Defeated 14-10 in the first leg at Bédarrides, Christophe Moni’s men are determined to exact revenge in this last pool match at Arboras before concluding the following Sunday at Beaurepaire.
Ranked sixth in their pool with 23 points, Nice must now think about their future which should lead them into a play-down pool with three other teams they have not met in the preliminary phase and which also finished between the 5th and 8th positions in their respective pools. Points earned and suspensions incurred during the preliminary phase are retained in the play-down by all teams, hence the importance for the team from Nice to accumulate as many points as possible in the last two matches. Then, a series of home and away matches will determine the two teams that will stay in Federal 1 and the two unfortunate teams that will descend to the lower level in Federal 2.
With 23 points in the standings, the Nice team is not the worst off, as only two sixth-placed teams in other pools have a bit of a head start with Domont in pool 2 (26 pts) and Graulhet in pool 4 (26 pts), while other teams like Cergy (16 pts) and Lourdes (23 pts) are slightly behind the team from Nice. Indeed, there are still two matches to play for all these teams and every point gained in the standings will not need to be earned in the play-down.
Therefore, fans of the sport must really show up this Sunday in the stands of the Arboras Stadium to support the Nice team, who are understandably disappointed by their defeat in Drôme but certainly aware of the importance of the 160 minutes they still have to play in this preliminary phase of Federal 1.
