The Top 14 will deliver its verdict next week. We will know the six teams that will compete in the final phase of the championship. Three clubs are already guaranteed to be among them: Montpellier, Bordeaux and Castres Olympique ! Winners of Perpignan on Sunday at Pierre-Fabre, the Tarnais are therefore guaranteed to play at least a play-off at home. They can even still qualify for a direct semi-final in Nice. Pierre-Yves Revol, CO president, is our guest this Tuesday morning.
Hello Pierre-Yves Revol. I imagine that you are a president who sleeps well at the moment?
Yes, because I listened to the weather report. Yes, cooling allows, if you will, allows them better sleep. Because Sunday evening it was very very hot. Which also explains a quality of match, perhaps, intermediate because the ball was very very slippery which was not seen on television.
Pride for your team? That’s what I meant, of course.
n any case, a certain serenity after having achieved our initial objective at the start of the season at the end of an imperfect match which was only the culmination of a first part of the season during which we were very consistent and undefeated at home and which was fairly well managed by the sports management.
Is the real objective still not the Brennus?
Listen, it’s a bit of a cliché but I think that all the teams that qualify afterwards, as soon as there are two or three matches left to play, enter a new competition and are seven on the starting line. The new competition, there are only competitors. So everyone’s goal now is to go as far as possible. Now, on our side, it’s not going to be a trumpeted goal. Yes, we intend to do our best now that we have passed this first phase.
Which is the favorite team for this Brennus shield according to you Pierre-Yves Revol?
I don’t know, but I think our status will always be outsiders. We have the 10ᵉ budget, the 11th payroll. Already being qualified and probably to the detriment of clubs from big cities, it reflects a certain performance. Beyond favorites, a team like Bordeaux, which has been excessively regular for two or three years, was barred by the Covid in 2019 as it flew over the championship. Stade Toulousain can obviously return at the end of the season, at any time. So there are very big clubs. Not to mention a possible qualification from Toulon who would then come a candidate.
But it’s true, Pierre-Yves Revol, we talked a lot less about CO than about Toulouse, than La Rochelle, than Bordeaux, when you are the club that has won the most victories this season. It suits you well to move like that with velvet steps?
Well, that doesn’t bother me at all. In any case, it’s a bit normal. You know, we are somewhat the representatives of rugby, of the regions, of rugby in medium-sized towns. And a modest city, a little landlocked, we talk about it less than an exposed city. And again, it also comes from the configuration of our workforce.
You have sent fewer Internationals to the selection. So that, of course, gives you a head start on Toulouse or Bordeaux?
It’s not as clear as that. There are French internationals but also foreign internationals. There is the fact that the clubs that send internationals still have compensation given by the League to recruit other players to replace them during international matches. So of course it’s a handicap for Stade Toulousain, which has ten players in the France team, but we mustn’t forget that they also have advantages in compensation and in particular the possibility of having other players beyond the salary cap of other clubs.
Let’s talk about what works a little less Pierre-Yves Revol at CO. How do you explain the difficulty of your club to shine on the European scene?
For the reason I told you earlier, you know. Again, even if the budget is not everything, we have the 10ᵉ budget, the 11th payroll. It does not allow us to have a large enough workforce to be sure to be able to play both tables. It is complicated. Already it is complicated on a national table. So if each year we are asked for results at the hexagonal level and at the international level, I do not know if we will be able to obtain them. Already, the fact that we are among the best at the national level is a bit of an anomaly if you will. So there it is, it’s true that we are not very efficient in Europe, but I think that the situation of the city, the situation of the budget, means that we should have a little more leniency in this regard from the observers . Now, nothing says that one day or another, one year or another, maybe we will get there in the European Cup.
And precisely on the next season, you have a lot of departures, you see clearly on the workforce?
No, we have very few departures. No, no, we have very, very few departures. We have a very stable workforce. This is undoubtedly also one of the reasons for the success of Castres Olympique. For years, we have been trying to retain your players for as long as possible. We have a few players at the end of their career.
Precisely, Rory Kockott who is retiring could be part of the staff?
Yes of course. This is a solution that we are currently examining and I hope that we will find an agreement. In any case, it is the wish of the club. We have an English coach who is returning to England and who is particularly responsible for the defense of the CO. And I think RoryKockott is very well profiled to replace him. Well, we will see that by the end of the season.