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Rugby: USC behind its spearhead Sam Vea
US Cognac third-row center Sam Vea returns to his former club Chartres, group leader, for a shock at the top this Sunday. Arriving this summer, the Tongan is already a key element of the Cognac collective.
In the first period, however, it was the best defense, Chartres, which dominated the proceedings. In line with his previous outings, the leader was solid, disciplined and pragmatic. The Chartres pack thus took advantage of a second penalty to open the scoring in force through Schlienger (7-0, 11th).
“They finished very strong, but we finished stronger than them. »
Pittman added a penalty (10-0, 27th) while Cognac had broken his teeth on the Eurelian defense, notably multiplying the forwards on impact.
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Chartres could, however, regret leading by only 7 points at the break. Because the last minutes before joining the locker room had been totally to his advantage with several attempts stopped on the line by valiant Charentais, previously returned to 10-3 thanks to the boot of Garnier (32nd). Definitely a turning point. After the break, perhaps the repercussions of the efforts made or the play of the changes, Chartres lost its control, suffering the game with numerous balls returned. After a series of penalties, one for Chartres and two for Cognac (13-9, 58th), the Charentais exploited the ammunition to score twice in three minutes. Fages, in a corner after a Volmink run, and Merceron, forgotten on the right wing, allowed the visitors to protect themselves from a converted try (13-21, 69th).
Third success in a row for USC
The Eurelians immediately returned to the game, scoring a second try at the kick-off with a recovery in the air from Sordia who ideally launched N’Diaye (20-21, 71st). Supported by his audience, the leader then rushed to the boarding. But his last attempts, often messy, came up against the Charente defense.
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And even Pittman, Fédérale 1‘s top scorer, failed to give his team victory, missing a 40m penalty then a drop of the same distance. Chartres had to surrender. USC achieved a third success in a row, enough to remain firmly on the podium and build confidence before receiving the UBJ.
Renaud Gourdon (C’Chartres Rugby, manager): “We had a rather coherent first half in terms of strategy. The second one is hard for me to analyze. We must congratulate Cognac, who played a very good game. I think we could have played ten more minutes without scoring. We never managed to find the key to this team which had a very tight defense. We knew that this team scored a lot on restarts and we gave them ammunition. »
Mounir Brini (Cognac, forward coach): “It’s a big blow that we achieve against an opponent who was until now undefeated. We had seen that Chartres had a tendency to finish very, very strongly. Once is not usual, they finished very strong, but we finished stronger than them. In the first period, it was quite balanced between two equally matched teams. We had a very average victory, in touch and scrum. But on the second we rectify, we continue to play, it’s our DNA, and that smiles on us. »
