Hot in front! Perpignan returns to the top flight to erase the “trauma” of its last season in the top flight

Outside Catalonia, a 2019-2020 exercise stopped because of Covid and then Agen’s zero point last season have dimmed the memory of the Perpignan fiasco in 2018-2019: two small victories in Top 14 and an immediate return to Pro D2. But on the side of the Aimé-Giral stadium, the memory continues to haunt the spirits when it comes to finding the elite, Saturday in Brive. “The trauma is still there,” confirms Régis Fior, president of Les Farfadets, one of the many groups of supporters of Usap. Even if today, the club seems better armed and to have a little more bottle. “

A Pro D2 overflown

Last season, the players managed by Patrick Arlettaz curled their mustaches in Pro D2: 24 wins and a draw in 30 days of the regular phase – best attack and best defense – then a digestive walk in the final against Biarritz (33-14) . And the two preparation matches won against Montpellier (34-15) then Colomiers (Pro D2, 19-5) maintain the idea of ​​a promising dynamic.

“Three years ago, there was also great optimism linked to the good performances of the offseason, calm Marc Lièvremont, former 3rd international line of the club (1988-1997), now consultant on Canal +, broadcaster of the Top 14. This said, the current team seems better armed to me. But it’s so difficult to project yourself on the level of this increasingly dense championship. Obviously, Perpignan, like Biarritz, will be part of the prey for predators who need to get points from the promoted. “

So as not to be eaten every weekend, one of the lowest budgets in the division (17.5 million euros) will rely on a team which, on paper in any case, holds up. If the neo-international pillar Quentin Walcker (Castres) and the promising 2nd row Alban Roussel (UBB) have bent their backs, the other executives have not budged, like the “dads” Piula Faasalele, Davit Kubriashvili and Damien Chouly, last survivor of the 2009 epic, concluded on the club’s seventh Brennus Shield, the last to date.

Argentinian sector

In the offseason, the club continued to activate the Argentinian sector (winger Bautista Delguy, scrum half Martin Landajo and no.8 Joaquin Oviedo joined opener Patricio Fernandez and center Jeronimo de la Fuente) . And he kept his pearl Melvyn Jaminet, the 22-year-old rear who wowed the world with the XV of France this summer in Australia, even before discovering the Top 14.

“We are not going to burn our wings, promises Jaminet, as comfortable to relaunch as to stumble from 50 m in the corner. The club needs to rebuild itself and that means keeping it in Top 14. We know that the difference with the Pro D2 is above all the speed of movement, the speed of the players. “

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– USAP (@usap_officiel) August 28, 2021

Even in the complicated moments through which the Blood and Gold will inevitably go through, they can count on one of the hottest audiences in France, frustrated by the closed doors of recent months. “We’re going to push like donkeys!” Regis Fior promises. We will die in the stands if necessary! “

Before reaching such extremes, the thirty-year-old president of Les Farfadets makes his calculations. “You have to hang on from the start. Take a point in Brive, then four against Biarritz for the first match at home and then sell our skin dearly. I draw a parallel with Clermont in Ligue 1, a promoted who started his championship very well. “

Grill and snails

A priori, Aimé-Giral looks more like a cauldron than Gabriel-Montpied, the stadium of Auvergne footballers. But wise Marc Lièvremont warns. “The public effect works a little less than 20 years ago. The big ones, like Stade Toulousain or La Rochelle, know how to win almost everywhere. But before talking about the advantage of playing at home, there is already the notion of fun. There is a communicative joy around the team that thrills an entire department. It’s a big club, with a strong identity. We know the passion around Aimé-Giral. “

Obviously, Régis Fior does not deny the former coach of the XV of France, finalist of the 2011 World Cup. “When Usap plays a match, we can see Blood and Gold supporters making grills in the parking lot or bringing snails [pour la cargolade, plat traditionnel de la région]. We bring this madness, we are supporters and not spectators, it is lost. “

The Lyon example

Yet when it comes to sharing his dreams of an ideal future, the hot gastropod lover refers to a very rational club. “The LOU took the lift like us. And when the Lyonnais returned to the Top 14 [en 2016], they settled. Today they are regularly among the top six. “In the short term, celebrating the club’s 120th anniversary in 2022 by pointing among the 14 best French teams will be more than enough for the Catalans to be happy.