"We're happy to get together and share our passion for rugby"

How did you feel after the friendly match against Clermont la Plaine? 

It's a team that has just come up from last year's Fed.1. For us it was very interesting because last season we finished 3rd in the group of Fed.1 for our first season at this level, so it's a team that played at the top of the table and that has just moved up, so it's supposed to have a slightly larger squad. It was a relatively balanced match, I think that we dominated a lot, they had some X-factor girls, especially the 15 who hurt us a lot, who took us 3 / 4 tries but who allowed us to see that they were our weaknesses.

What was the state of mind? 

We're happy to be able to be together on a pitch, to share our passion for rugby. It was very interesting in terms of content for girls who don't know each other very well. We have the old ones (the managers) who did the job, there are young people who came up from U18 and we feel that there was a very good job done before, it's U18s who are joining the federal team (a transition with the Elite for some), so these girls bring a lot, there are also new ones who either never knew rugby at XV or who come from other clubs so they didn't know the level, who have also distinguished themselves well. I was really pleasantly surprised, I think there was a lot of desire and that really makes the difference, so very good and very encouraging for the rest of the season.

What did you put in place to achieve such cohesion?
 
With Margaux (who coaches with me), we gathered 7 girls in July: 2 old ones (we call them the old ones because they've been here for a while or they've come back to the club), the captain and the vice-captain from last season, plus a game leader who is our N°10 and 2 youngsters who came up (who we had identified with Joss Selva, their former coach, as girls with their heads on their shoulders and who had a bit of leadership in the dressing room or on the pitch). We prepared the season by telling these 7 players "here's what we're going to wait for, here's what ideas we have, what do you think about it" we co-constructed this and as a result I think the relay was done quite quickly. Some girls have arrived, they are "good", I think we can't say it otherwise! There are certain recruits who have just arrived or certain girls who took the plunge right away. Of course we are sure of the competition, we are an elite and competitive club, but we are also on a human adventure, that's what is behind the word AMAZONES, Margaux Donzel often reminds us. They are all great this year, there are no worries for the moment. I think that we wanted to see people again and share things and it was done naturally and very quickly, we have already had 2 cohesion weekends. The season is well launched, we are well united, it's great!

1st championship match this weekend against Nîmes 

There are 4 teams that we don't know and Nîmes is one of them, there is what we can say about the teams from the south, about the commitment they put on the field etc. but that will remain to be seen, we don't underestimate anyone. After the friendly match that we have just played, even if we only lose by 5 points and there is good content, we must not get carried away. It's a good thing we played the friendly match, otherwise it was back in the big bath right away. I think that there will be, not necessarily negative pressure but a stake: we're back in the championship, we have objectives that have been set and by returning to the field we'll really want to do well.

What is the objective for this season? 

We've all known them: final phases with 7 French champions, final phases in Fed.2, French champions, last season we were 3rd just a few points behind the 2nd to make the final phases. To live through the final phases every year is enormous!
We are 3 Elite reserve teams per group, there will be the final phases of the Elite reserves on one side and the final phases of the team 1 on the other for the access to Elite 2 (Armelle Auclair Championship), to qualify for the final phases we must finish in front of one of the 2 Elite reserves, therefore in front of the Lou or Montpellier who are 2 big chunks. The first objective would be to finish first or second in the group, so we simplify our lives and the sub-objective is to be ahead of Montpellier or Lyon at the end of the season.

Photo : K. Valentin