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Champions Cup: Wenceslas Lauret, Racing 92's handyman

2022-05-09T04:10:46.566Z


The third line from Ile-de-France is, at 33, one of the essential executives and cogs in his team, which will face La Rochelle on Sunday in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup.


In the prime of life.

At 33, Wenceslas Lauret has never seemed to master his rugby so much.

Sunday, against the English of Sale, he shone once again, allowing his team - victorious of the English of Sale in Paris La Défense Arena (41-22) - to qualify for the fourth semi-final of Champions Cup of his story.

“There is relief, we are qualified.

Now, we know that against La Rochelle, Sunday, it will be just as tough, if not more.

We have already played against them in the Top 14, we know how they are

,” he warned at a post-match press conference.

On Sunday, Racing 92 was treated to a hard, intense match, closed in the first half against the beefy Sharks of the suburbs of Manchester.

Forty minutes before the sky-and-white machine gets going on the way back from the locker room and blows up his opponent.

“It stung a lot.

Sale is a very dense, very physical team, with a lot of South Africans.

We know their game, there are a lot of duels, a lot of intensity.

We saw it on the rucks, on the scrums, on the keys,

he admitted.

We saw that they were heavy, it was very hard physically.

Even me, in the end, I couldn't take it anymore...

"

Read alsoRacing 92-Sale: the favorites and claws of our special correspondent

Golgoths that had to be raced, exhausted, before delivering the final blow.

“The idea was to move them because they are very heavy and there were a lot of spaces on the exteriors.

We managed to do it in the second half, there were a few intervals that we managed to take.

Even at times, it was difficult to concretize, ”

explains the helmeted flanker.

And to insist:

“At the end, we managed to keep the ball and move them.

As we managed to move more than them, we were able to achieve our highlights.

We felt that they were in trouble.”

Long cataloged as a pure "tackle-scratcher" (qualities which he obviously has not lost), Lauret has been able to enrich his game, become more complete over the years, especially in touch where he is now an essential jumper for Racing line-up.

“We had put in place a strategy in touch and it succeeded in this match,

welcomes the person concerned.

We were very attentive to reading their launches.”

Above all, the third line also shines with his ball-in-hand activity.

Always well placed, omnipresent in support, he has indeed scored nine tries this season, his career high.

And a great performance for a pack player, which highlights his hyperactivity.

A worker in the shadows at heart, the former Biarritz Olympique player refuses to shine a light.

Moreover, we talk much less about him than about his young scrum half Nolann Le Garrec, soon to be 20 years old and author of a full match against Faf de Klerk, the number 9 of the world champion Springboks.

It doesn't bother him, it even amuses him that people talk to him about his brilliant protege:

“I'm not going to give him too much ointment, otherwise he's going to ignite.

He's a good player, he's got a lot of talent.

Obviously, there are small things to correct.

Imperfections, as in matches, there will always be some.

But he is on the right track.

His strength is that he learns quickly, he is very humble, so he works very hard.

Four European finals lost

Wenceslas Lauret remains focused on the quest for a first European title.

After having failed four times on the last step: a first time with Biarritz (2010) then three other times with Racing (2016, 2018, 2020).

“Those who know me know that I play thoroughly this competition that the club and I have never won,

he recalls.

We play on both counts

(Champions Cup and Top 14, editor's note),

we have the squad for.

This year, the championship is very tough, but we have no right to give up.

We have two months left to play, we will rest afterwards.

And the reunion with the Maritimes, who had corrected the Ile-de-France residents 19-0 at the end of March in Marcel-Deflandre, promises to be tough.

“Whether in the European Cup or in the Top 14, it's the same team.

It's a French team, we know how they play.

It's going to be very closed, very intense”

, announces “Wen” who wants to believe it:

“A door opens with this semi-final, I hope that we will go as far as possible together.”

So far, at this stage of the competition, Racing has always managed to win its European ticket to the final.

It's after that it goes bad.

But we will avoid reminding him, once again, of Wenceslas Lauret...

Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2022-05-09

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