the Rugby Club Orleans is in complete success. Second in their Federal 2 pool, three points behind the leader, Paris Université Club, the Loire Valley club is in full swing and has just completed a fifth straight win, this Sunday on the ground of Metz (20-36). The RCO should, barring a cataclysm, be for the final stages in the spring and hope to be promoted to Federal 1. An ambition that the head coach of the team (and former full-back at the club) does not hide, Jimmy Belouetguest of 100% Sport on France Bleu Orléans this Tuesday.
The RCO remains on six games without defeat, five wins in a row and a solid second place in its Federal 2 pool, so far it’s been an excellent season for your team…
We are on an extremely interesting dynamic, after already a very good start to the season. We had taken a small slap at home against Orsay in early December (6-16 defeat, Editor’s note) and since then we have not lost. We got out of tricky matches over the last two weekends, with trips to poorly ranked players in the middle of winter (in Metz and Pontault-Combault, the bottom two in the rankings, Editor’s note), so we’re sure excellent dynamics.
All the lights are green, it’s up to us to confirm at the end of the season
How does this good dynamic come about, why is it working this year on the RCO side?
There is both short-term work that is implemented, with a group that meets expectations, that works seriously, that has real qualities in terms of state of mind, a group that adheres to the project, who gets involved. And then, of course, there is a little more medium-term work. For four years now, we have put things in order and in place humanly and sportingly in the club: a major training policy, one of our trademarks, which is bearing fruit, with the highlight being the center certified training program that we set up three years ago. A progressive structuring which now allows us to play the very top of the Federal 2 table. So, all the lights are green, it’s up to us to confirm at the end of the season.
Precisely, what are the ambitions of the RCO? This season but also in the medium or even long term?
For me, who played in this club also in Federal 1, at the gates of the Pro D2 in the mid-2000s, given the economic potential of the city, its infrastructure, its past and its training, it is obvious that the place of the RCO is at least in Federal 1, in any case it is my vision. In view of the season we are having, we are almost guaranteed to play in the final stages. We have been playing the leading roles since the first day, the objective, of course, can only be to play these decisive matches to reach the next level.
Everybody’s starting to think maybe this is our year
So the idea is to set up and perpetuate the club in Federal 1?
Yes, now that the club has really worked upstream, on parameters as essential as structuring, training, internal organization and that the results for seniors over the past two years have been very regular and consistent, that the double project offered to players is beginning to bear fruit, the short-term goal, of course, can only be to reach a semi-professional level, that’s for sure.
This good season, and these good results, do you feel it around you? There is a craze that is created between the supporters and this team that plays the leading roles?
Yes, of course. In Orleans, sometimes, we reproach a little for being more a spectator than a supporter. Above all, we need results to make people adhere to our project. We feel that when we play the leading roles, something is happening around us. And this is also where you have to keep a cool head since the slightest counter-performance and a little seen afterwards, as a disappointment. Everyone is starting to think that maybe this is our year. There is enthusiasm. There, we are in difficult times for our sport in the heart of winter, but it is true that we are eager to arrive in spring and at the end of the often euphoric seasons in rugby.
Rugby Club Orléans will travel this Sunday March 27 to Pontarlier, eighth for the 17th day of Fédérale 2, before receiving Bourges, fifth, on March 5.