The Stade Français has relaunched, collecting against Clermont its second victory of the season (22-14), but the public of Jean-Bouin did not really enjoy Sunday night. Blame it on the trembling hands of two struggling teams at the start of the season? Not that, to listen to the principals concerned. At a press conference, Parisians and Auvergnats found another potential culprit for these leaky balloons, as on these potential tests spoiled by a forward by Macalou (8th) on the Stadiste side and by Lavanini (69th) on the Clermont side: humidity, whose corollary is the slippery ball.
“The synthetic turf was watered, it’s complicated to play because the ball gets very wet”, began to describe the third row of the ASM, Arthur Iturria after the meeting. However, no hose was released for the occasion – we also did not see a sprinkler system deployed in the hour and a half before the kickoff – according to his Parisian counterparts.
“There were inaccuracies”
“The ball was soaked because of the evening dew,” said the second line and Parisian captain Paul Gabrillagues. You can’t see it from the stands, but that doesn’t make things easier. There were some inaccuracies, and we are not at the top of our confidence either. “” We were imprecise, corroborates his trainer Gonzalo Quesada. But at this time of night, the ball is bound to be slippery. “
Illustration of one of these elusive bullets: this last Clermont attack before the break (39th), spoiled by a forward Alivereti Raka, much to the fury of his partner Damian Penaud a few meters from him. Later, the supporters of the Stade Français, who had just sang a Marseillaise, gave a loud cry of relief when the test which would have put Clermont in the lead ten minutes from the end was annihilated by the hesitant hands of Argentinian Tomas Lavanini, author of a perfect counter on a clearance at the foot of Joris Segonds. In the stands, his compatriot Gonzalo Quesada uttered a big egg.
“When I see him running for the ball without being out of play and not panicking, I expect the worst. I tell myself that it’s gone again to work in the face of adversity, loose the Parisian technician. Fortunately, that did not pass and we made a nice scrum behind. Today, we really deserved to win this game. »Dew or no dew.
