In recent weeks, the CAB has been activated by signing a few players and reorganizing its staff. But what is the logic? What does that mean ? What is the CAB leadership’s response to supporters who are concerned about this year’s recruiting? Xavier Ric, the general manager of CA Brive, did not evade any questions. Maintenance
You have taken some time to establish this balance sheet. What is it?
Already, the first satisfaction is to have remained in the Top 14, despite the fact that it happened on the last day. Afterwards, we, the leaders, we are still disappointed with this season because we had higher objectives and ambitions. And it’s true that in the end, we manage to stay in 12th place on the last day. So for us, it’s a disappointment and that’s why we took the time after the match at the Stade Français to really take stock, to get together, to sit down quietly and collectively to learn lessons and put things in place for the upcoming season for the 2022/2023 season.
Have you sketched out what went wrong?
We know we had a good start to the season. Afterwards, we were in difficulty because of the injuries and the absences of the internationals. Afterwards, we had this block of three important matches at home where we won, then drew against Montpellier. Once again, we swung into a positive dimension and afterwards, it’s true that we had a big air pocket. We got a bit lost and we lost our identity, we lost our values. We also lost our rugby, which brought us to this outcome on the last day at the Stade Français.
There was a bit of a questioning, right?
Yes, at all levels of the club, I think we had to question ourselves. We also had to take the time to tell each other things. There are positive things, but there are things on which we have to progress. We need to be more demanding, more efficient. And so that’s where we took the time with the staff to talk things over and put in place an action plan for the coming season.
Precisely, the action plan has been put in place a little over the past few weeks. First with the question of the staff. There is this arrival of Didier Faugeron, a former coach who is returning as sports coordinator. Is it a questioning of Jeremy Davidson?
Not at all. This is not a questioning of Jérémy Davidson. We see that professional rugby is becoming more structured and professional. We see that in all clubs, now, there is a sports referent, a sports coordinator. Didier’s missions are very clear. First, his first mission will be to be in charge of the recruitment unit. It will be the person who will take care of the recruitment of the pros of the training center in connection with the staffs. In particular, it is he who will be in contact with the agents and who will take care of the first negotiations. And then, he is also there to make the link between the professional team, the training center, so that there is more communication. This is also an area of progress for us, internal communication. And we really need to see the emergence of young players in the professional team as well. He will be there to be able to work on a daily basis with the staff, the professional team and the U23 team.
We are talking about recruitment. If we look at the accounts, there are eight arrivals against thirteen departures. We say to ourselves that this is not compensated automatically. What’s your opinion on that?
I don’t agree with you. I mean yes, we have thirteen departures, but of the thirteen departures, we still have to analyze. There were players who had very low playing time throughout the season. So what is the point of keeping players who play or not? Isn’t it better for young people from our training center to be the resources to take up these positions?
And above all, we wanted to raise the quality of our workforce by having more targeted recruitment. This is particularly the case of Marcel Van der Merwe. We all know his qualities as a right pillar. He is someone who has a lot of experience and we really needed it. It was an opportunity that we were able to seize. Same for Abraham Papali’i who joins us with this profile that we lost with the departure of Sooty Fa’aso’o. He is a very powerful player. Sammy Arnold too, the same, will also bring us his experience. Ditto for Rodrigo Bruni, it is nevertheless one of the best players of Pro D2 and Argentinian international who joins us. So in terms of quality, I think that we took players superior to the players who left this year.
Is the transfer window over?
Indeed, it stopped Thursday evening at midnight. Is it over? We all know that in professional rugby, it’s never over … between the additional players, the medical jokers that we have the right to take. So we are always on the alert and it will be Didier’s mission to start targeting, watching, seeing according to our needs during the season which ones we can get.
A word on the budget for next year…is it still determined? You have seen that Bayonne has increased its budget to almost 20 million euros….
On this, I will be very clear. We carried out our recruitment and our 2022/2023 budget with things that we currently master. We’re not going to spend the money we don’t have. It is certain that we, to date, will not have a budget of 20 million. We may be the smallest budget of the Top 14, but here we are, we will fight and we will exist in this championship which is more and more challenging every year.
Note that the CA Brive renewal campaign will begin this Tuesday at 9 a.m.