- The National Rugby League is organizing the first Supersevens, the French VII rugby championship, on Saturday in the Racing 92 hall.
- Reigning French champion in XV, the Stade Toulousain is ambitious, despite an experimental team made up of a few regulars from the professional team and hopes.
- Players accustomed to XV have only three sessions to adapt to a discipline with much less combat, but much more speed.
The hands on the knees, rugby players suffer this Tuesday noon, on the synthetic of an annexed pitch of the Ernest-Wallon stadium. "We're in the dark, recover!" Asserts Michel Marfaing. The sports director of the Stade Toulousain training center has become the "team manager" of the brand new red and black VII rugby team, which will try to make history on Saturday in Nanterre, winning the Supersevens, first French championship in the discipline.
The former international XV and VII (49 years old) will lead a delegation of around twenty people to the lair of Racing 92, including 15 players. Among them: a lot of hope but also three pros (Pierre Fouyssac, Arthur Bonneval, Tristan Tedder) and two elements of the training center accustomed to the Top 14 (Lucas Tauzin and Matthis Lebel). No pillar or second line in the lot, necessarily, given the constraints of the sport.
"The club came to see us," said the rear wing Lebel, double world champion under 20 (XV). This allows you to play at a good level and have playing time. ”The training on Tuesday (the hardest of the three scheduled during the week) is intense, the phases of play follow one another.
A center that jumps in touch and pushes in melee
"It's hard for them, but the benchmarks will quickly be put in place," says Marfaing. They go from XV to VII, a completely different sport, which goes almost the opposite of XV in certain areas. At XV, we attack the line permanently. At VII, you must be able to attack it at times and refuse to attack it to bypass it later. "
In the discipline, Olympic since 2016, the players go beyond their function, as when the Fouyssac center jumps in touch like a second line on a throw by the young scrum half Theo Idjellidaine. Or when the center or wing Tauzin pushes pillar way in a melee three against three.
"This is a lot to see in a short time, notes the latter. At VII, you have to be athletic and complete, with a good passing technique because the distances are longer. "You have to go fast, long," adds Marfaing. It's speed endurance. A foolproof mind is also necessary. When you are in the red, and you are quickly, you must be able to hang on. "
"The VII is above all fun"
We feel the enthusiasm in the technician as in the players, even among the pros who sweat while their friends (well, those who do not prepare France - England on Sunday) taste a two week vacation. "The VII is above all fun," smiles Lebel, whose team will start competing at 11:50 am sharp against Agen, in the round of 16. "But it is clear that we are not going there to lose," he continues.
"We want to go as far as possible and win a title if possible," confirms Marfaing, a great lover of the VII, whom he trains the residents of the training center. “It's something crucial for the learning of young players, he says. Look at Cheslin Kolbe. He went through the VII, at a time when we did not want to XV because of its small size. It is the VII that allowed him to go out and switch to the XV to be the best in the world today. "
On the Walloon synthetic, the speed and support of the young winger Nelson Epée (19 years old) are reminiscent of the prowess of the South African electric, recent winner of the Japanese World Cup. The Ile-de-France public will discover this product from the stadist training center on Saturday, during a sport-festive event (an IAM concert is planned) on which the LNR counts a lot to attract a new audience. Rightly so, according to Marfaing.
“Moms who enroll their kids in rugby school today are a little scared with everything that's going on. The practice of VII, much more airy, with less contact even if there is at the high level, allows to create an additional door to enter rugby. "
🇲🇨 | OFFICIAL
He's there !
Here is the 1st group in the history of # MonacoRugby7s during the @supersevens at @ParisLaDefArena!
1st match against @CABCLRUGBY pic.twitter.com/AQLaXcmz3i
Saturday's event, which will bring together 16 teams (those from the Top 14 plus a team from Monaco and the Barbarians), is going to make a splash. From August, three qualifying tournaments will be organized in seaside resorts, before a final phase scheduled for November 7, also at the Paris-Défense Arena.
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