We left Racing 92 with a new disappointment, a heavy defeat (36-16) on the lawn of Bordeaux-Bègles in the play-offs in mid-June.
We will find them on Saturday (3 p.m.) in their setting at Paris La Défense Arena with the reception of Castres, finalist last season, as a kick-off match for this Top 14 season. With a lot of changes on the Ile-de-France side, who will still try to afford a title that has been leaking from them since 2016. Overview.
Players: Cameron Woki, and rookies focused on the Southern Hemisphere
He was the summer transfer of this Top 14. A year before the end of his contract with Bordeaux-Bègles, Cameron Woki left the Gironde, in particular to be closer to his native Seine-Saint-Denis.
Here is the second or third line, author of a dazzling season with the XV of France, at the Sky and White where his manager Laurent Travers like his new partners welcome a successful integration.
But the bulk of Racing 92's recruitment is aimed at foreign players.
Three Fijians including the massive winger Asaeli Tuivuaka, a Tongan, a South African, and a Welshman who comes from the XIII.
A new wave, responsible for making people forget Teddy Thomas, Yoan Tanga, Kurtley Beale or even Maxime Machenaud.
“It was not easy to say goodbye to certain players, recognizes the third row Wenceslas Lauret.
The integration of the new ones is going well, we took the time to get to know each other during the pre-season.
But what will really unite this group will be the victories.
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Facing the Tarnais, two rookies will start and one will start on the bench.
The back of the Springboks Warrick Gelant is still retained with his selection, while the treiziste Regan Grace suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon in August and should no longer play in 2022. A medical joker is quickly expected.
Read alsoTO PRINT.
The calendar for the 2022-2023 season
The staff: Rory Teague, the new face
The boss, Laurent Travers, is still there, ready to attack his tenth season at the club where he continues to spin the metaphor of the marathon to evoke the difficulties of this Top 14 which he knows at his fingertips.
But around the field, it has moved a bit.
Former doctor Sylvain Blanchard is back after a year and a half with AS Monaco footballers, while sports director Yannick Nyanga has taken over as hopefuls.
In the staff itself, the real novelty is called Rory Teague.
The Englishman, former manager of Bordeaux-Bègles, has arrived to succeed the Irishman Mike Prendergast and take charge of the offensive animation of Racing 92. “What he offers us is interesting for the moment, judges the hooker Camille Chat.
It's based more on a game to get the ball alive.
It changes us a little, we take pleasure.
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Style: more freedom
The arrival of Teague should precisely lead to a change of style of Racing 92 in attack.
“With Mike, it was a closed and stereotyped system, which allowed us to be effective last season on the offensive phases.
This secured the players, describes Laurent Travers.
There, Rory will bring more freedom in decision-making.
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The good intentions have not yet materialized during the preparation, where Travers judges "very mixed" the content of the defeat in Brive (20-15) and the victory in Perpignan (28-14) in friendly.
“We have benchmarks to find, slips the opener Antoine Gibert.
We have an offensive game based more on the initiative, on the qualities of the players, with more French-flair one could say.
You will see on Saturday.
“First real meeting against Castres.