Few people would have bet on Castres Olympique, except perhaps its most fervent supporters. However, it was indeed Pierre-Henry Broncan’s players who won the first ticket for the Top 14 final at the Stade de France on Friday June 17. Picked cold by a try from Toulouse at the start of the game, the leader of the regular season logically won (24-18) against the defending champion Toulouse. Thanks to the boot of their opener Benjamin Urdapilleta, the Tarn took advantage of the indiscipline of the teammates of Antoine Dupont (2 yellow cards) to return to the match, then reverse the trend. Castres will face the winner of Montpellier-Bordeaux-Bègles in the final on Friday June 24.
This season, Castres is also enjoying breaking its image. The minimalist game advocated by Christophe Urios, which had allowed the CO to become French champion in 2018, gave way to an attractive game of movement, validated by the leg of an effective scorer. This semi-final won by the Tarnais is the perfect execution. Trapped by the liveliness of Mathis Lebel at the start of the game (0-7, 4th), pushed into touch (3 lost balls), Julien Dumora’s teammates, carried by conquering forwards, pushed their opponents into error.
In Castres, we like to thwart the predictions so we are necessarily happy.
Julien Dumora, back of Castres Olympiqueat the Canal+ microphone after the meeting
Antoine Dupont, who we saw everywhere, in attack as in defense, applied himself to putting out the fires, but could not do anything when the shoulder of his teammate Rory Arnold went impaled in the face by Filipo Nakosi (22nd, yellow card) or that Julien Marchand illicitly annihilated a strong time from Castres just in front of the line (38th, yellow card). Stade Toulousain was however in the lead at the break (9-10).
And if the other nugget from Toulouse, Romain Ntamack, responded in stride to the test of Santiago Arata, spinning in the in-goal after a superb interval hold of which he has the secret (16-15), the final was played elsewhere, in a duel of scorers. It’s rare enough to be highlighted, but this time Thomas Ramos has come close.
The international rear missed a transformation and especially a penalty (73rd), which could have allowed his team to regain the advantage. A few minutes later, Urdapilleta offered Julien Dumora (77th) the try of release, with the help of Filipo Nakosi, on a razor kick. Everyone was waiting for a drop. But we told you, Castres has changed. Castres surprised, and finds the final of Top 14, four years later.