- French professional rugby froze the ups and downs by formalizing on April 30 the end of the Top 14 and Pro D2 seasons.
- Leader of Pro D2 during the interruption of the competition, Colomiers could not claim to find the elite, who left in 2004.
- Fresh from the Covid-19, President Alain Carré unveils his plan for the coming season. With less means, but an intact ambition.
Hard hit by the Covid-19, Alain Carré returned this Tuesday to the offices of Colomiers Rugby. “I was sick for almost two months, and I was hospitalized again three weeks ago, explains the 70-year-old entrepreneur, who has been in post since 2004. Then I went home from where I only came out on Monday. "
Reinvigorated, the boss of the leader for Pro D2 butter gave an update on the situation via a live Facebook then on the phone, for 20 Minutes . While the Colombe club saw a smiling spring, with a possible semi-final at home, and why not a promotion in Top 14, the coronavirus has shattered the dream. After consultations with the club presidents, the championships of the first two divisions were officially frozen by the NRL on April 30, and the climbs and relegations canceled.
"I took the side of an overwhelming majority, says the one who is also the head of the Union of professional rugby clubs (UCPR). There are many regrets, even if there are more important things in life. Players are frustrated, not rewarded, like shareholders and partners. "
Resumption of training on June 2, championship in early September
The possibility of finding the elite 16 years later has flown away for one of the flagship clubs of French rugby at the turn of the second millennium. Now, we must start again, in a muddled context: the return to the Michel-Bendichou stadium for the workforce (first in small groups) is scheduled for June 2, the resumption of the championship on September 5 or 12, if all is fine. In camera or not, knowing that ticketing and hospitality are the udders of French rugby? Alain Carré says he is ready to play "two or three games" without an audience. “This season has been catastrophic, the next must not be. "
# BestOfPROD2 | D15
When your center pierces ... full center to go mark between the poles! @usonneversrugby pic.twitter.com/Jh7VWyhc2k
The budget will lose weight "by around 15 to 20%", while with eight million euros, Colomiers was already an average weight in Pro D2. As with colleagues, the payroll should also be reduced by "27 to 28%", according to the recommendations of the DNACG, the financial policeman of rugby.
Ten departures for only three or four recruits
Ten departures are certain for only three confirmed arrivals, perhaps awaiting a fourth recruit (the Valencia-Romans hooker Thomas Larrieu as well as the 3rd line of Soyaux-Angoulême Anthony Coletta and Aldric Lescure).
Loaned by Stade Toulousain, the big neighbor, the second line Alexandre Manukula will return to Ernest-Wallon. In the same case, the pillar Hugo Pirlet is in negotiations to stay one more season in Bendichou. The club was close to completing the signature "of a size at the rear wing positions", according to Alain Carré. But the Covid-19 has brushed this prospect aside.
Will there be a drop in wages, as already in Castres and Toulon?
"I don't know, we're watching. The players did the job, they would have had a big bonus on the semi-final, and the wages would have increased if they went up to the Top 14. There, they have none of that. So, if I come to ask them for a salary effort, it is because I would have exhausted all the other solutions. "
To begin with, the club will cut elsewhere: traditional pre-season training course canceled, departures for away games in the morning rather than the day before, postponement of the renewal of certain equipment in the gym…
Optimism despite everything
We will also have to rely on the loyalty of the sponsors: the partnership budget amounted to 3.8 million euros last season, more than two million are already "committed" for the coming year . Alain Carré and his teams have a job in perspective. And optimism to spare, despite the danger that hangs over professional rugby. "If we didn't go up this year, why wouldn't we go up next year?" "
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