Castres and Montauban meet in Lacaune for the Vaquerin challenge

Les Castrais joueront leur premier match amical de la saison. DDM – DDM- MARIE PIERRE VOLLE

Le challenge Vaquerin revient sous une nouvelle version et aura lieu à Lacaune cette année. Castres affrontera Montauban le 16 août à 17h.

Despite the difficulties, there will be a 31st edition of the Vaquerin challenge. A truncated edition where there will be only one match this year, on Friday August 16, in Lacaune. The match will take place from 5 p.m. between Castres Olympique and US Montauban, which plays in Pro D2.

A match in Camarès, outside the challenge

Once again, the Vaquerin organizers had to change their minds at the last minute since Castres were originally supposed to play Leinster at the end of August. The new fitness coach for the Tarnais decided otherwise. There will be no match in Saint-Affrique, due to a lack of teams, nor in Camarès, since the town hall, RC Rougier and the Béziers club have decided to organize a match of their own in August. “We did everything we could to have a match in Saint-Affrique but it didn't work out”, says Franck Vaquerin, the president of the association. “The investment of Lacaune volunteers is to be underlined”, specifies Guy Dalet, the treasurer of the challenge. The meeting will therefore take place within the framework of the Lacaune festivities. It will be an opportunity to compete for the Ibrahim Diarra trophy, created in 2020 by the two clubs to pay tribute to the former Castres player trained at Sapiac, who died suddenly in December 2019. Another tribute will be paid to Max Lafargue, the former president of Montauban, born in Lacaune.

A new staff at Castres

On the sporting front, the match will pit a team that narrowly missed out on the final stages against a Montauban team that had to fight until the last match of the season to ensure its survival among the pros. As with all preparation matches, there will be a squad review with its share of new players and coaches. At Castes Olympique, Xavier Sadourny will be the new back line coach and Pierre Lassus the new performance director. With nine arrivals including three hopefuls, the CO displays a certain stability in its squad including Paul Jedrasiak (ex Clermont) Rémy Baget (ex-Bayonne) and Christian Ambadiang (ex-Nevers) who will be the new attractions. Montauban has changed its staff with the arrival of Sébastien Tillous-Borde as sporting director. Staying up is the clearly stated objective for a club that has the arrival of 13 new players including the signing of South African Sikhumbuzo Notshe in the third row (ex Sharks). Volunteers from Saint-Affricain and Lacaune are "mobilized to make this match a success in Tarn".

Price: 10€, free for children.