Stado TPR, what do we do now?

Although painful to obtain, the victory obtained without artifice against Aubenas (22-20) by the Stado is worth its weight in gold. With 10 points ahead of the trio of dunces of the National three days from the end, Tarbes already has one foot and four toes on the next starting line of this 3rd division of hexagonal rugby.

A championship with ever higher requirements in which the bigourdan club does not weigh very heavily economically with a budget of €1.5m, the smallest in the competition with Aubenas. Money certainly does not bring happiness, but by dint of pulling on the rope, the latter will end up breaking one day. With a staff of 20 professional contracts, including multi-active, a staff reduced to its bare minimum (a duo of coaches and a half-time physical trainer) and offices that have been emptied since there are only a full-time sales representative, the Stado now has only a professional name for its structure: namely the SASP. Abandoning this mode of operation to switch to the associative regime, the management is thinking about it. “Objectively, we don’t yet know what we are going to decide,” said Stado president Lionel Terré.

Two budgets on the table, end of the SASP?

From a financial point of view, two scenarios are on the table. First the first, which would be to leave with the same budget next year (1.5 M€). Given the competition, it would not give much of the skin of the Tarbes bear in this National. “The second built budget is around €2 million, it’s the right price to be competitive and professionalize because the current situation is not satisfactory, recognizes Lionel Terre who sweeps away the idea that a city like Tarbes has no more means to have a club at this level. Here, we are no poorer than in Aurillac or Mont-de-Marsan. The economic resources are there. Scheduled for the next few days, a meeting between the club’s various partners should make it possible to see things more clearly.

Romain Terrain will take charge of the forwards

After two seasons of collaboration at the head of the first, the duo Stéphane Ducos – Fabien Fortassin is preparing to lead its last battles. If the coach of the three-quarters will keep his place next year, that of the forwards is called upon to take on other responsibilities. Namely the management of the Stado training center because if the club wants to keep its label in this area, it must have a qualified technician at its head.

In this context, the coach of the hopes Romain Terrain is led to take the lead for his great debut at the head of a pro team. At 40, the former hooker from Pau, Castres, Biarritz or even Perpignan is therefore preparing to form a new tandem with Fabien Fortassin. “His past as a player with more than 200 games in the Top 14 pleads for him, underlines Lionel Terré. And what I like about him is that all he was able to achieve was through work. He’s a huge hard worker. »

Also, the recruitment of a full-time physical trainer is planned. Anything but negligible as the team often did without on the move this season.

Regarding the workforce, the period of contract renewals for each other is underway. Keeping the same framework with one reinforcement per line, the quest for a No. 10 in the profession, and more generally strengthening with versatile boys, such is the roadmap. “The ideal would be to be able to go up to 25-26 pros already to work in numbers during the week and then to install more competition”, confides Fabien Fortassin.