Carcassonne in turmoil tonight. A large part of the inhabitants of the City and all rugby fans will experience the first Pro D2 final phase match in the club’s history, since it became professional. The match will be played in the Nièvre, against Nevers this Thursday evening at 8:45 p.m. And to live it, between 2000 and 2500 people will be gathered around giant screens at the Domec stadium in Carcassonne from 6:30 p.m.
It’s a city that follows the club completely, completely.
Frédérick Gau, is a USC lovers and the president of Patriots supporters group. And according to him, he lives with his “little club” a historic moment. “I’ve been with the club for twelve years. Sometimes we manage to bring together 2,500, 3,000 people in the stands. And there, we see that since Carcassonne has done this, we are 7,000, 8,000 in the stands. So that We’ve seen finals matches for three days. It’s exceptional.”
And Frédréric Gau recall that despite this feat, USC does not quite play in the same league as other Pro D2 clubs. “When your name is Bayonne, Perpignan, Bordeaux, Lyon: for all of them, there is no qualification problem. But we are THE club that is not expected. Above all, we must salute the work of all the coaches as well as that of the manager. To get there, it goes through work, there is no secret. Especially since in Carcassonne, we fight with small means, small tradesmen. In the stadium, we do as we can. Like what you don’t always have to have the cutting edge of technology to reach the best level.”
Small staff, small budget and big qualities
And for all those who have passed through the club, it is a reward. Michel Salette played with USC from 1985 to 1988 when the club was in D1. He was an opening half, another rugby he said. But above all, he is very proud of the success of current players and even more with the club’s very small budget of around 5 million euros. “With the squad we have, doing better would be complicated. Small squad, small budget and great qualities of camaraderie, living together. And that shows in the results. It’s exceptional. We have a very good team , with very good coaches. We are very proud of the progress made by Carcassonne. It is exceptional what they have done.”
Three rounds from a final
On the side of the team, manager Christian Labit repeats to anyone who will listen that he only envisages victory. After nearly nine hours on the bus yesterday, the Carcassonnais hope to qualify and continue to be the pride of this city of 45,000 inhabitants. This is the state of mind of Samuel Marquès, scrum half of USC and former Stade Toulousain. “We play without pressure. We are far from being favorites but we don’t want to make up the numbers. We are three rounds away from a final and we really want to win it. And in addition we were able to bring the public back to the stadium To mark the history of the club is to be champion of France. So we will try to get this final.”