SO Millau – Sarlat: the rise on the horizon!

Les Millavois voudront réussir leur match aller devant leur public, ce dimanche. Jean-Louis Bories

The big crowds are expected this afternoon (3:30 p.m.) at the Millau sports park where the Som are playing their last match of the season at home with a major challenge at home. rsquo;result of a double confrontation against the Périgourdins of Sarlat, namely nothing more and nothing less than an accession to the upper level, the Federal 1.

The last time that the Millavois club had the opportunity to access the Federal 1, it had come up against Dordognots, Trélissac: it was during the 2015-2016 season. This Sunday on the outward leg, before returning next Sunday, it will be the Périgourdins of Sarlat who will stand in front of the Aveyronnais. And since 2016, the Millau team has changed a lot. There are only three players left: Gauthier Escalais, Christopher Mezair and Clément Vergne.

With the arrival at the helm of Baptiste Majorel, a new game project was put in place and trust was placed in the young people from the training. For the club this year, the objective was to do better than last season and, in this, it has already been achieved. Now, the appetite comes with eating and the Som is obviously not prohibiting anything, the rise, if it becomes reality, will be assumed by local leaders and institutions. Sarlat: grandeur, decadence and return at high speed.

The opponent proposed to the Aveyronnais is therefore CA Sarlat XV. This Dordogne town is a rugby stronghold, but this club has recently experienced setbacks. In 2018, a Franco-American billionaire who had fallen in love with this magnificent region of Périgord Noir decided to buy it and bring it up to the professional division in the short term. An ambitious objective but completely disproportionate compared to a small city of barely 9,000 inhabitants.

"A team that looks like us"

Which will cause a lot of ink to flow in French rugby league. The inevitable happened. Caught up by the financial authorities, the Sarlat rugby club was liquidated in 2022 and demoted to Federal 3. Managers and volunteers from the club then took back control to save the situation and get rugby going again. With happiness since the Sarladais, having nevertheless retained a small backbone of players from the old project, have returned to Federal 2; even winning the title of French Federal 3 champion last season.

On the momentum, the blue and black finished first in the group and do not hide their ambition to return to the highest federal level. It is therefore a solid team that is proposed to the Somistes menu.

For their coach Baptiste Majorel, "it’is a team that resembles us that we will be opposed to". And to continue : "Less solid than Bourges, but more playful and who has with Hemani Paea (a very robust center, former pro at Lyon and Oyonnax in particular and who is player-coach at Sarlat, Editor's note) a big anchor point in the center of the field. We had time to analyze our opponent’s play and we have no complexes about their ranking because we too have had an excellent season in terms of results.&quot ;

No calculation

On the effective side, the Som has all of its strength at its disposal. A significant asset at this time of the season. Left pillar Wilfried Pupier regains a starting place after serving his consecutive match suspension with three yellow cards. Captain Ewen Perraux takes over a starting place at the back, as does Gael Naudan in the 2nd line. True to form, the Millavois coach pays tribute to his players, particularly those who will not appear on the match sheet today.

"They are an opportunity for us and the state of mind of the group is such that it will give even more energy to those who play. We are lucky to have the group almost complete. “It’s a rich man’s problem,” he said. In a double confrontation, the Millavois staff knows full well that the first duel, especially when it is played at home, must be won.

No calculations to do. Being disciplined, applied in defense and efficient in its strong moments, this is what the SOM will have to put in place (in addition to its movement game of course) today if it wants to overcome the pitfall Sarladais. Concerning the second round, next Sunday, which will be decisive, its scenario is written according to the first leg.

"We are in the 8th finals and players, staff, managers all want to reach the ¼ which would be fabulous for the whole club and we all also know that the climb is at the end. We will take it on and once again the support of the supporters will not be negligible, we deserve it."

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