The Millavoises in the final of the French U18 rugby championship: “It’s even stronger than two years ago”

Parcours sans faute pour les Millavoises de Jonathan Santos et Laura Saunier. SOM Rugby

Samedi, les pensionnaires du SO Millau affrontent le Stade français en finale du championnat de France U18 et joueront au plus haut niveau national la saison prochaine.

SOM rugby can still hope to win a national title this season. After the eliminations of the senior teams during the final stages, it is below, among the young people, that we must look. The women have once again qualified for the final of the French Elite 2 championship (the second national level) for under-18s. They will therefore participate in the big rugby festival which will take place in Bourgoin next weekend, where all the national finals will be played.

The qualification after the victory against Dax this Saturday (23-19) was savored at the height of the feat that it represented. By rewinding, it will be easy to understand the emotions of the staff, players and accompanying parents. “We scared ourselves all season, summarizes Jonathan Santos, the coach of this team with Laura Saunier. At the beginning of the year, we didn't know if we were going to start a championship with 10 or 15, we played with a group of 20 girls. At the beginning of the year, we told the players to bring friends… We had to upgrade two juniors, with the agreement of their coach, (Nicolas Costes, Editor's note) who helps us a lot. Once, we even left with 15 players."

"We thought we wouldn't go far"

Getting to this level was therefore unexpected. More united, the Millavoises have shown self-sacrifice throughout the season and are undefeated going into this final. "At the end of the regular phase, we thought that we wouldn't go very far, but in the end, we passed the eighths, the quarters…" < /em>Before falling on the reigning French champions, Dax. "It had been two years since they had lost a match. Last year, they largely beat Provence rugby who gave us 40 points, continues the coach. Then the feat arrives, at the very end of the match. "They played an incredible match", praises the coach , who has already reached a French championship final two years ago against Béziers (14-17 defeat).