Torpedoed by Toulouse in the semi-finals, the Ile-de-France club was once again disappointed in the final phase. The Sky and White will have to question themselves with the departure of their manager and several senior players.
The question arose during the match: had a team already finished fanny in the semi-finals of the Top 14? And then, the late attempts of Gaël Fickou (71st) and Ibrahim Diallo (76th), to save the trampled honor of the Racingmen, solved the problem. But not the brutal observation: the Parisians were rolled by the Toulouse in San Sebastian (41-14). “We weren’t invited. We lost everything, collisions, scrums, throws, hits… Everything. There is no photo”, coldly releases the international center Gaël Fickou. Same observation of helplessness for the Argentinian winger Juan Imhoff: “When you’re beaten in conquest, in the air and you can’t hold the ball, it’s complicated to win a semi-final…”
After deceiving and holding out for a quarter of an hour, the sky-and-white ship took on water from all sides. Sterile movements, a violent scrum, fouls in spades and a glaring lack of efficiency, and worse, of a game plan. What Ile-de-France manager Laurent Travers bluntly acknowledges: “At times, we were more than inconstant. We were mostly taken on the fundamentals, like the scrum. Rugby hasn’t changed much, if you fail on the fundamentals – even if you last 25 minutes – you end up paying. If you are not able to launch your game, it is the same. Forwards submerged, rears stopped.
“It’s been a mixed season, that’s nothing new”
A tasteless performance in the image of the Racing 92 season. Totally inconsistent. A team capable of pretty brilliant strokes as of masterful failures, which had forced him to fight hard to win his ticket in the final phase. This is why Laurent Travers salutes the regularity in the performance of Toulouse. “This match reflects the season for both teams. The Toulousains responded from the first to the 80th minute and we were just able at times to delude ourselves about good deeds, as we were, over the season, able to play a good match and to be absent the game after…”
In the end, another season without a title for the powerful Hauts-de-Seine club which – by being present every year in the final phase of the championship since its return to the top flight in 2009-2010 – has only won a Brennus in 2016. It was in Catalonia, in Barcelona, but we have to believe that the air of the Basque Country is definitely not successful for Ciel et Blanc who lost in the Champions Cup final in 2018 in Bilbao against Leinster. At the time of the balance sheet, Gaël Fickou does not have happy illusions: “It’s been a mixed season, that’s nothing new. We tried everything but I think the team couldn’t do better. We were at the max…”
It is in pain that a page in the history of the Altosequan club turned this Friday. Laurent Travers, who arrived at the club in 2013 (with Laurent Labit) crowned with the title of champion with Castres, will leave his post as manager on a scathing setback. “I feel a lot of emotions, says Juan Imhoff, at the club since 2011. I haven’t had many coaches in my career, Laurent was my coach at Racing. When you share so much time together, it’s not just about sport, there’s also the human side, you get very attached. Professionalism is still cruel sometimes: you go from everything to nothing. Fortunately, he will stay at the club with us, the players.»
“We are going to get up again and if we want to go to a final, we will have to go up a notch”
The Puma also wishes to salute several of its teammates who will be leaving Racing. “I would have liked us to end differently for certain players. I am thinking of Louis Dupichot, he is someone who loves this club and who gave everything for this club. There is also Teddy Iribaren (who signed in La Rochelle) a Finn Russell (vers Bath) who have also given a lot for Racing. We’ll meet Again. But it’s still a big page of Racing that turns … “
Next year, the club of 92 will be trained, for the first time, by a foreign technician, the Englishman Stuart Lancaster, former coach of England who had rebounded successfully at Leinster. Laurent Travers will remain at Racing but as chairman of the club’s management board. Did he feel a pinch for his last match on the Ile-de-France bench? “Honestly, I thought about it at the end of the match but – and I may shock you – there are people who don’t have the possibility of being able to do anything else. I am lucky and honored to have been offered another position. And I assume that what awaits me is perhaps even more beautiful. So I’m going to be positive.”
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And to add: “I will do everything to be the height and I will do everything to bring this team as high as possible. Know one thing, it is that we are very proud of these colors and this jersey. I’m glad I can continue. Afterwards, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Why would I be sad? I decided it. Some don’t have a job, so we’re going to keep our feet on the ground. It’s a great adventure.” But the site is huge, still in the open. “Rugby is about tackling, getting up. We’re going to get up again and, if we want to go to a final, we’ll have to go up a notch, insisted Juan Imhoff. I have lost more than won in my career. But, to win titles, you have to go through it. The problem is that the seasons follow each other and Racing passes each time “over there”.
