Amateur rugby trophies 34: Enzo Picarelli, Mathieu Berlou, Emilien Penaud… elect the best player of Regional 1

Vote for the best player in Regional 1.

Midi Libre, the Hérault Departmental Rugby Committee and the Evelyne agency present the 3rd edition of the Hérault Amateur Rugby Trophies. Vote on Midilibre.fr until September 17, to elect your favorites in the 15 categories.
Today, it's time for the category: Best player in Regional 1. Discover all the results on October 4!

This trophy is sponsored by SAVAB Ford Béziers

Enzo Picarelli.

Enzo Picarelli (Half aperture/Orb Ranges)

< p>Spearhead of the Plages d’Orb Rugby Club last season, Enzo Picarelli was nominated for the trophy for best player in Regional 1. At 26, the versatile fly-half/centre was one of the leaders of the team based between Sérignan and Valras.
Second in the group after a great regular season, the Plagistes had the unpleasant surprise of losing in the final, against the neighbours of Rives d’Orb.

"It was a big frustration to lose this match, in this way (15-12)", confides the man who has played 14 matches this season. Added to this frustration is the loss of Occitanie in the 8th finals against Montech, despite scoring 18 points against the goalposts (30-23).
“Last season, I was more successful in shooting on goal”,confesses the right-hander, who scored 163 points. Author of a try and 13 points, the club's child could not avoid the elimination of his team in the round of 16 of the French championships against Saint-Saturnin lès Avignon (19-18).

Relieved of the captaincy "with the return of Cédric Malaterre", Picarelli still responded on the field.
This season, he hopes, with his teammates, to move up a gear. “We've had the same group for 7-8 years. We're not the young guys anymore, we have to start winning…”, he concludes.

Mathieu Berlou.

Mathieu Berlou (Troisième ligne/Rives d’Orb)

Mathieu Berlou can smile. The 25-year-old third row player took part in the great season of the Rives d’Orb. "It's a more than successful season, given that we had only just moved up to Regional 1", explains the man who wears a helmet on the Occitan pitches. Behind Corbières XV and the RCPO, the Rives d’Orb have made their way into the R1 group.

In the local final, the Riverains have "managed to take a shield, while we weren't favourites"Mathieu Berlou actively participated in this success by scoring the decisive try in the second half against RCPO. “It's the club's first shield in Seniors“, he adds.

Last year was one of confirmation for the flanker who took on “a little more maturity and the captaincy in touch”.
The rest of the adventure ended abruptly, in the 8th finals in Occitanie against Canton St Lys (13-3) and in the 32nd finals of the French championships against Rhodia (13-8).

Now among the squad's key players, with 12 matches played and two tries scored in 2023-2024, Mathieu Berlou hopes this season “to do as well as last season or even better with a homegrown title that we will have to keep.”

Emilien Penaud.

Emilien Penaud (Scrum half/Mauguio)

After a 2022 season -2023 which saw him shine on the R1 pitches, winning a Challenge de France and scoring 14 tries in 23 matches, Emilien Penaud was entrusted with the captaincy last season. Having arrived twelve years ago at RC Mauguio, from Joué-lès-Tours, the scrum-half learned his trade on the banks of the Etang de l'or.

Mauguio's collective performance did not necessarily meet expectations during the previous season. “We are frustrated, because we were aiming for qualification at the start of the season and we didn't achieve it”, says the 22-year-old player.

Then, in the Occitanie and French Challenges, the adventure quickly ended. From an individual point of view, Emilien was one of the team's driving forces with 9 tries in 15 matches. Dynamic, electric, Penaud is not “a captain who talks too much”, but a player “who tries to contribute everywhere on the field”. This season, he decided to join RC Jacou to join his father Pascal, at the helm of the reserve team but also, why not, to taste the level of the Fédérale 2.

“It is not necessarily my priority to play in Fed 2, he specifies. First, I want to discover a championship, which I don't know with that of Fédérale B too."