The Brivists were frustrated at the end of their first home game last Saturday. And all had their heads turned towards their next meeting: this match against Perpignan. Today, this match is of accounting importance, confesses the three-quarter coach Jean-Baptiste Péjoine: “It is certain that if you win against Perpignan, you will have an ascendancy over them at least in the block of ten games. You have to take points when you have to take points.”
However, there is no question of dramatizing. Especially when we recall the failed away games last year. “We did a reset” replies the coach. This season is a new season for Brive, with new players.
First tenures for Sasha Gué and Sammy Arnold
The composition of CA Brive for this Perpignan match proves the coach right. With ten changes from last week’s starting XV, the coaches wanted to bring new and young blood to the traveling team. It is thus in Perpignan, in the lair of Aimé Giral, that Sasha Gué will start for the first time in the third row. “I’m very excited,” said the 22-year-old.
Another first: that of Sammy Arnold in the center, instead of Guillaume Galletier. The staff want to see what he’s worth. Joris Jurand, his locker room neighbour, praises the “exceptional” qualities of this “international class player”.
Solid in Perpignan
USAP has also put the dishes in the big with the presence of key players from the workforce of the Catalan Patrick Arlettaz. Its captain Matthieu Acebes, but also Seilala Lam at the heel, supplanted by the former Brive player Mike Tadjer, the opener Tristan Tedder or the Australian Taumeopeau in the center.