This weekend the reserves of the Salanque CR (dams) against Coaraze Nay in Seilh this Saturday in Federal 2B and the JSI (16th), Sunday in Mazères against Barronies in Federal 3B will play to go as far as possible in the final stages.
The B. The reserve. Team 2. That the term is used, this battalion of players a priori dedicated to rarely evolving with the pennant team is perhaps ultimately the lung, the heart, the essential organ of a senior collective. Often ambianceors, the elements that compose it, also sometimes represent a beautiful alternative to the vagaries of the front page (injuries, suspensions, meforms), but also a springboard for the most ambitious which can be revealed to it. Especially for the youngest.
“Culturally, at the JSI, it is part of the decor. Lovers of a more frank rugby. These guys do not have the same motivations as the first team members in general. These are the guarantors of the club spirit, lovers of their village. Third half-time leaders, ”smiles Many Palau, the coach of the Federal 3 of Elne Latour Théza. And which pushes further in the analysis. “In this team, there are two sub-groups. The ambitious young people who wish to go up to one and the elders who come to have a good time. Who come to seek camaraderie ”. In Maurice-Erre, it is not uncommon for them to be 70 strong at the Wednesday and Friday sessions. “This week you see, we have scheduled an optional training on Monday and there were 60s.” The final phases effect too? And of course with Jay Padern, his pair, and the physical trainer Anthony Luce, he erects bridges between the two sets. “Let’s say that the group of the one account 30-35 players. When you remove the wounded, the suspended, the absent for professional or personal reasons … We do not hesitate to draw on the B, “continues the Illiberian technician who unrolls his second season at the JSI where he won two qualifications. “We exchange a lot with the reserve staff (Rémy Alligier, Jérémy Figuères, Eric Caulo and Laurent Gironella). Every Friday evening, after training, we dialogu the composition of the groups. It’s vital. And then the sessions are often common except the last hour of Friday where we put in place the strategies so we see them all ”. Besides, the WhatsApp group “Staff JSI 2025” often tinks. “Meritocracy, diligence, solidarity and fight” are capital virtues to climb a bar. Jules IXART, Florian Ros or Mathis Colin, 3rd year juniors promised to the B at the start of the season were able to win their towel circle above.
“Tribute to the choices of the front page”
As in Elne, the Salanque CR, Thuir and the other federal clubs, the reserve also serves as a laboratory. An undeniable blood-blood intake. A breeding ground that they evolve over the years. On the coast, the SCR has not missed a spring meeting since the club’s creation (2009). Or 16 seasons of row. A performance inspired by US Torreilles and US Canet Sainte-Marie when these clubs had their own identity. For the “Green Army”, it is the same, with this title in Federal 3B, in 2018. Memorable epics often written by players from the formation, who want to engrave their history and their names on a piece of wood.
“There are several important things in a reserve. The first is to allow young players who arrive from the U19 to get used to the Federal level, a transition period which is essential to erase the gap between the two levels. There is also the fact of giving playing time to players who are outside the twenty-two elements taken in one or who come back from injuries. It also incorporates players who cannot be present in all the training of the week for professional reasons and who have real potential. Finally, it makes it possible to make opposition to fifteen against fifteen on training, ”underlines Lionel Montgaillard, the coach of the three-quarters of the front page of the SCR. Jean Baptiste Domenech, coach of the B of Thuir since this season has an opinion which joins the first two witnesses with a different look: “A reserve is the mixture of experienced players from the village in love with the club and juniors with a big margin of progression. It is an important passage. Not at the rugby level because we have very well trained national juniors but rather on the physical dimension. For a coach, but if you are aware that the pennant team prevails, there is a drawback, it is that you are dependent on the choices, injuries or suspensions of the one which makes you lose continuity and the link in your group. But on the contrary, it can be positive with players who descend, who show the example and what is missing young people to apply for the first team ”. Suffice to say that there is no reserve for reservations.
