A sigh of relief. This is undoubtedly what the players and the staff of Berjalien felt at the end of the match against Soyaux-Angoulême this Sunday at the Stade Pierre Rajon. “We loosened up a bit“, recognizes this Monday, May 9 on France Bleu Isère the president of the club, Henri-Guillaume Gueydan, after an end to the season which reassured the skies and garnets. And which also marks the departure of emblematic players.
France Bleu Isère: If you had to choose one word to define the CSBJ season, what would it be?
Henri-Guillaume Gueydan: “Galley”, we rowed a lot….
Indeed, at mid-season it was badly started. You have finally managed to raise the bar. How ? And did you ever fear a descent?
Yes absolutely. In November, we put ourselves in maintenance mode, because we saw that we had not left for a good season. We said to ourselves “let’s forget our objective of sixth place and for now, let’s put ourselves in maintenance mode”. It took a few weeks but we felt that something was starting in the first leg against Angoulême and then in January, we confirmed. And since then, it’s true that we have taken points in all the matches. We either won at home, or took the defensive bonus away, or even won away. So it was very good. Well, yesterday, we relaxed a bit in the second half…
What made you lift your head? Was it a mental change or in physical preparation?
At the start of the season, we had a lot of injuries, almost until mid-December. We permanently had 10 to 12 injuries out of a squad of 33 players. So to fill in the match sheet, it was sometimes complicated.
Yesterday’s match marked the end of the season but also the end of Bogdan Leonte’s career, after fifteen seasons in sky and garnet. Is it a page that turns for the CSBJ?
Yes, and it’s a great adventure for Bogdan. As we said yesterday in the locker room, there are probably few players who will stay so long in the same rugby club, a top-level sports club. It’s a page that turns, yes, but we have others who have been there, in the house, for a long time. I’m thinking of Matthieu Nicolas for example, or Rémi Bouet, he’s been playing in the first team for quite a few years now. I wish them to last as long as Bogdan.
You started the season with a new staff led by Sébastien Tillous-Borde. Is this precisely the beginning of a new page for the CSBJ?
Probably yes. In any case, it is a different functioning, different from that which we have known in recent years. This is also one of the reasons for the injuries at the start of the championship, the new methods of the coaches took a little time to be assimilated. And all that mayonnaise completely took hold in January and it showed on the pitch.
And suddenly, what are the objectives of the CSBJ for next season? Are you aiming for the climb?
It will be the same objective as this season, that is to say to be in the top six and therefore qualify for the final stages, then we know that anything can happen. Our goal is to get back to Pro D2 as quickly as possible, but not just anyhow. It shouldn’t be by chance. So we try to structure a lot of things at the sporting level and outside to be ready when it happens.
The works outside, it is in particular the building site of the infrastructures with works in grandstand, a new new grandstand which will be delivered at the beginning of next season?
Yes, we hope that during the summer, it will be over, for this new season of CSBJ rugby.