They remained for many minutes on the floor of the Accor Arena. Flushed, exhausted and disappointed… As if trying to understand what had just happened, to enjoy the audience one last time too. A few moments earlier, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Sports, Jacques Rivoal, boss of France 2023 and Guislaine Westelynck, president of the French Disabled Sports Federation, were impatiently awaiting the end of the meeting, ready to burst out to celebrate the Blues. Blues who were three tries ahead of the Japanese a few minutes from time. But the atmosphere suddenly changed when the French, too feverish in the money-time, ended up cracking and losing in the small final of the International Cup (49-50) of armchair rugby.
An audience that responded
Jonathan Hivernat’s partners of course greeted the thousands of spectators present at Bercy, took advantage of the last ovations, but deprived themselves of a last communion with an audience which will have been able to mobilize throughout the competition: the schools of first, guests at the start of the week, then the players’ families and a good number of guests for the final phase, but also supporters who came from all over France.
Like Frédéric Beuf, president of the “Chtis Diables” supporters club in the North, who attended the five Rugby World Cup matches in Villeneuve d’Ascq, before making the trip last weekend to Paris to the final phase of the International Wheelchair Rugby Cup with other members of the French Federation of Wheelchair Rugby Supporters: “We discovered wheelchair rugby during the European Championships in Paris, we found it great and we decided to come back to set the mood,” explains Frédéric accompanied by his friend Christian, who came from Alsace.
Glasses, tricolor flag, blue white red headgear, the supporters did not fail in their mission during this rehearsal less than a year before the Games. Marseillaise a cappella, Pena Baiona and other “Allez les Bleus” nourished this week rich in emotion. Nearly 4,000 people were there during the small final between France and Japan on Sunday, a few more during the final won by Australia ahead of Canada, and several thousand all week at the Halle Carpentier with a rate filling between 60 and 80% of the gauge each day depending on the organization.
French people who compete with the best
“We’re going to have to work on this. For us coaches, it’s not easy to give instructions and make ourselves heard,” quips Bob Vanacker, the coach of the France team. An atmosphere that this French team is not used to, which carried the Blues during their first victory in history against the Japanese in group play, but which perhaps also made them thwart during the match of opening against the United States then on Sunday, during this match that they should never have lost against the Japanese. “Maybe we were afraid of winning,” analyzed Sébastien Verdin, striker for the Blues. “We need to work on our emotional management, especially at the end of the match,” recognizes Michel Terrefond, sporting director of the Blues.
With three defeats in five matches, the record may seem meager if we look at the dry results, but the French reached the top 4 of an international competition for the first time in their history. “There is of course disappointment but the outcome is positive,” continues Bob Vanacker. We learned, we lost by one point against the United States, we beat Japan, we lost by one point against Canada in the semi-finals. They are used to it, we have a young team that is not used to playing at this level, we wanted to know where we were and we showed that we were really capable of playing for a medal and We’ll look for it next year. »
So what are these Blues missing to take this last little step? So that the matches go to the right side and finish in the Top 3? “We compete, but we just have to pay attention to lots of little details,” promises Verdin. “When we look, six or seven years ago, we were at least six or seven points behind these teams, now it’s nothing, we’re in the right timing” supports Terrefond.
But do they have the means to do better?
But does this French team, which essentially relies on the same players including Jonathan Hivernat and Sébastien Verdin offensively during decisive matches, have the means to do much more? While the detection and training of new players is delicate, France will in any case still have to work on these different line-ups between now and the Games to be even more fluid and allow its executives to breathe. Also avoid failed transmissions or small errors which are very costly at this level. And to do this, it will have to continue to organize despite its limited means.
“It’s true that we have to put things in context,” recognizes captain Jonathan Hivernat. Currently we could not hope for better than to be in the four best nations in the world. »
With a budget of barely 250,000 euros, France does not compete with the major nations in terms of budget. “Today, teams like Canada or Australia have 1.5 million euros, we don’t play in the same field,” concedes Terrefond. But France has the means to get there, it’s just that we’re going slower. »
Before the Paralympic Games in ten months, the Blues will compete in the Quad Nations in April in England, then the Canada Cup, in June against the top 8 in the world, to benchmark themselves one last time before the Paralympic Games which are already on everyone’s minds . “There isn’t a morning when I don’t think about it,” agrees Hivernat, who admits to making many personal sacrifices to be the best possible during this deadline.
“I want to be there,” also recognizes Clermont defender Adrien Chalmin. All this experience, this atmosphere, it will be useful to us in ten months, we will analyze all that and it will be useful to us for Paris 2024. We know that we are part of the world’s top but now we have to confirm by going for the medal and that This is the hardest part, but I know we’ll get there. »
