The LOU challenges this Friday (9 p.m.) RC Toulon, during the final of the European Challenge which will be played at the Vélodrome stadium.
This big meeting could allow Pierre Mignoni's men to take off for good in the eyes of the general public in Lyon.
“There is obviously a lot of excitement and enthusiasm, summarizes the president Yann Roubert.
It would be a great story to finish in apotheosis at the Vélodrome stadium.
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Will Jean-Michel Aulas' dream of seeing his men's team become European champions finally be realized by Yann Roubert and LOU Rugby?
After dismissing Worcester (31-17), Glasgow (35-27) and Wasps (20-18) in knockout matches, LOU players can become, this Friday (9 p.m.) in Marseille against RC Toulon , the first Lyon men's team in history, in any sport, to win a European trophy.
“It may only be the small European Cup, but it is the first European final in the history of LOU, recalls president Yann Roubert.
So there's obviously a lot of excitement and enthusiasm.
It would be a great story to finish in apotheosis at the Vélodrome stadium.
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About thirty @LeLOURugby supporters accompanied their team's bus departure in the early afternoon for Marseille, where the Challenge Cup final against @RCTofficiel @20Minutes will take place on Friday evening pic.twitter.com/rSWikb4ly8
— Jeremy Laugier (@JeremyLaugier) May 24, 2022
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Sometimes mocked in the world of ovality, this European Challenge allows the LOU to be accompanied by around fifteen coaches of supporters, who will leave this Friday morning the Matmut Stadium in Gerland.
Tuesday afternoon, around thirty fans were present to accompany, with smoke bombs, the departure of the players towards their Franco-French clash against the RCT.
Yann Roubert expects between 4,000 and 5,000 Lyonnais in a Vélodrome necessarily won over to the cause of the Toulon team.
But by the way, to what extent can this final take a decisive step forward for rugby in Lyon?
"It's more complicated to find your place in such a big city"
“Sportingly, Lyon is a city used to winning titles, recalls third line Dylan Cretin.
Without the titles, we know that it's more complicated to find your place in such a big city.
To mark Lyon with our mark, it is certain that we no longer just have to be well placed or play well.
This club wants and needs to win trophies to validate all the work done.
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In the shadow of OL, LOU only landed in the professional world in 2002, with a rise to Pro D2 when Sonny Anderson's partners lifted their first crown in Ligue 1. Three ascents to the Top 14 and two relegations later, between 2011 and 2016, and the club only stabilized in the top flight for good with Pierre Mignoni as manager.
“In Lyon, there is a lot of basketball and football, but we also talk about rugby, comments the technician, who will be on the Toulon bench in a few weeks.
It was less the case when I arrived in Lyon seven years ago.
We have felt for several seasons that our audience is much more present.
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“The embers around the club are getting more and more incandescent”
A finding that is much less glaring in the European Cup, since only 8,000 spectators attended the quarter-final against Glasgow, and 10,525 for the half, well below certain crowds in the league, such as the 16,000 against the RCT in April, and very far from the maximum capacity of the former OL stadium (35,000 seats).
“There are perhaps a few fewer people than in the Top 14 because people do not necessarily note these dates in their diaries, indicates Yann Roubert.
Perhaps we haven't accustomed them enough so far to do well in the European Cup, it's a healthy habit to get into.
In any case, we feel that there were embers around the club several years ago, and they are more and more incandescent.
It's up to us to blow on it so that it becomes a real inferno.
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A virtuous sequence between Mignoni, the Top 14 and Gerland
In the meantime, the blaze risks being in Toulon for this final at the Vélodrome, while this conquering LOU has so far come up against twice in the semi-finals of the Top 14, in 2018 and 2019. An upward trajectory which encourages its supporters to optimism.
“Everything happened almost at the same time at LOU: the signing of Pierre Mignoni (2015), the rise to the Top 14 (2016), and entry into the Matmut Stadium in Gerland (2017), lists Benoît Cabannes, president of La Meute (120 members), one of the three groups of LOU supporters.
All that takes little by little and during this European journey, we sometimes had a warmer atmosphere than in the Top 14, because it was mainly the big supporters who were present at the stadium.
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“For many rugby fans, we are not a rugby city”
A hitherto relative enthusiasm that can easily be explained by the trajectory of this LOU, which still has its entire history to write.
This is why sports personalities outside of rugby have also mobilized in recent days: “I was told a lot in Lyon about this possibility of being the first boys to win in Europe [the women of OL have eight coronations in the Champions League], says Yann Roubert.
It would make it possible to mark the history of Lyon sport and not just that of LOU Rugby.
We had nice messages from Jean-Michel Aulas and Gaëtan Muller [Deputy President of Asvel]”.
Nevertheless, the club is struggling to obtain legitimacy in the eyes of French rugby.
“For many rugby fans in France, we are not a rugby city, and that carries nicely, indicates Benoît Cabannes.
The Matmut Stadium in Gerland may be too big at the moment, but I hope we will soon be able to fill it.
In this sense, a first European trophy could not hurt.
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