- This Friday at Mont-de-Marsan, Colomiers is aiming for a tenth straight victory in Pro D2, which would allow it to regain the lead in the championship.
- The club of the suburbs of Toulouse, stronghold of French rugby at the turn of the millennium, has for main objective a place in the first four, in order to approach the final phases in a position of strength.
- If he were to climb into the Top 14, 16 years after his last passage in the elite, the neighbor and partner of Stade Toulousain suspects that the task would be immense. But he would not refuse it, says President Alain Carré.
The last time Colomiers frequented the elite of French rugby, in 2003-2004, Jacques Chirac slept at the Elysée and the first division was still called the Top 16. Since then, the formation of the Toulouse suburb made three dives in Federal 1. But today, six steps from the end of the regular phase, the Colombe club is hovering over the Pro D2. This Friday at Mont-de-Marsan, he can line up a tenth success in a row and thus recover the leader's chair stolen Thursday evening by Perpignan, winner in Biarritz (18-22) in advanced match of the 21st day.
“Last year, at such a time, we were relegated, seven points from the first non-relegation, recalls President Alain Carré. The players are revengeful, we are almost spared from injuries and our coaches [Julien Sarraute and Fabien Berneau] move forward together. "
The Columérins already have their place reserved in the final stages, with a mattress 18 points ahead of Vannes, seventh. The alliance of “grognards”, like Captain Béco and the Romanian Macovei, of prime recruits (the Italian scrum half Gori, the Fijian winger Vici…) and very promising young people (Barlot, Manukula), works perfectly. But the boss of the club, in office since 2004, sees even higher. "If we could finish in the first four, it would be an incredible thing! "
The climb is still far
Small point on the formula, simple as pie: the first two of Pro D2 qualify directly for the semi-finals, while the third and the fourth dispute their jump-off at home, against the sixth and the fifth. The winner of the final goes to the Top 14, the defeated plays an accession match against the 13th of the elite.
The slope is steep but the road is straight, even if it is still long for Colomiers, who "especially does not want to be enough". But, if the great adventure goes to the end ... "If the guys on the lawn win the climb, I will accompany them, assures Alain Carré. We would then try to make a group with a maintenance objective. "
In this case, one of the average weight of the second division in terms of budget (7.5 million euros) would become a straw weight on the floor above.
"We would shoot at 11 or 11.5 million, the smallest budget of all time, but it would be extraordinary"
Of course, it would no longer be a matter of going up to the summits, as in the heyday of the current Blues coach Fabien Galthié and Jean-Luc Sadourny, during the magic trilogy: victory in the European Challenge (1998), final the European Cup (1999) and the French Championship (2000). "We're going to be told: you're not going to win a Top 14 match," observes Alain Carré. Perhaps. But if we win one, we will jump everywhere! "
Stade Toulousain, a powerful neighbor and partner
The club of this city of nearly 40,000 inhabitants would then rediscover the taste for derbies with the great neighbor of the Stade Toulousain, a partner more than a rival for Colomiers: after the now international rear Thomas Ramos three seasons ago, this is the pillar Hugo Pirlet (already present last year) and the second line Alexandre Manukula that the current French champion has shipped on loan from the Michel-Bendichou stadium. The duo will return to Ernest-Wallon this summer, but an agreement at the level of training centers is being studied, whether it is in the elite or not.
"There is room to have a large Top 14 club and a good Pro D2 club which plays the leading roles," asserts the columérin leader. "A good club", which does not refrain from putting its nose from time to time on the floor above, if the opportunity arises ...
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- Top 14
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- Colomiers
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- Toulouse
- Toulousain stadium
- Pro D2