Pro D2: these old hands who push Béziers forward

Marques, Tupulola, Nkinsi ou encore Koen, des leaders de jeu indispensables sur l'échiquier biterrois. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Eight of the Béziers players registered on the match sheet to challenge Dax, Friday March 8,   are over 30 years old. Game leaders, they are the essential cogs in the ASBH game.

Francisco Fernandes, 38 years old, Samuel Marques, 35 years old, Charly Malié, 32 years old, Taleta Tupuloa 34 years old, Tim Nanaï-Williams, 34 years old,   Hans Nkinsi, 31 years old, Sias Koen, 30 years old, Pierre Gayraud 31 years old… These eight thirty-year-olds are on the scoresheet of the Béziers team which is leaving to challenge Dax, this Friday March 8 (7:30 p.m.) . Old meadow guns, some of which have been playing the ASBH game for years. With 304 matches played under the colors red and blue, pillar Chico Fernandes is even the dinosaur of the Béziers pack!

Wise people meadows

These "wise" meadows are essential in the advance from Béziers towards the summit. They are essential in a team where they show the way to young, long-toothed guns, like Paul Recor, 24 years old, Gabin Lorre, 22 years old, or even Raffaele Storti, 23 years old: "These veterans are all game leaders, explains Cyril Bonnafous, Béziers coach,  responsible for kicking, line defense and field trips.Young people, like us, the staff, rely on them. The meetings that we have with them allow us to put in place the entire strategy for the matches. They are also important in terms of the atmosphere of the club and in everything that concerns non-sporting matters. They are a bit of a guide for everyone."

Create Alchemy

All that remains is to know how to manage and direct these masters of acting with strong character. Knowing that they are experienced and have an oval experience that their young peers do not have. Enough to lead coaches to become perfect chess players, capable of mastering the position of their pieces on the rugby board: "A team only made up of' ;#39;old or only young people cannot function, analyzes the coach. We need to create a sort of alchemy between everyone. This is what makes training go well."

Mostly rested during the trip to Vannes, where Béziers lost (45-17), these game leaders were reinstated when Brive came. ASBH returned to success (34-15). In Dax, they will therefore be on deck again. Because we also have to take care of the organisms: "An elder does not manage himself in the same way in terms of preparation, confirms Alexis Mudarra , the physical trainer. For example, if we offer extra work to young people, this is not the case for them. They benefit from a little more recovery. With the elders, we work more on staying in shape. In fact, they know each other very well and manage each other well. Even if from time to time, we have to give some people a booster shot to get them back to work." 

Major pieces

These leaders will once again be major players for Béziers which intends to drive the point home in Dax, before a fortnight's break:  "In a match like this, they are important in terms of strategy, in what they are going to put in place, in everything that is game launches and in the management of climatic conditions, assures Cyril Bonnafous. Their experience must enable them to make decisions at the right time."

The know-how and cunning of these old pack veterans will, in any case, not be too much to try to strike hard on the pre dacquois, where many are  broken teeth. Only Provence rugby and Vannes have, in fact, achieved the feat of raising their arms to the sky in the Landes.

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