“In the first match, it was a clear defeat,” admits Julien Schramm, director of Rugby Nice Côte d’Azur. It was on October 15. Grasse, even though the score was tight, had dominated the match. The Grasse players had steadily built their victory. Since then, the Nice players have finished their tuning phase. The automatisms are there. The departures of Franck Alazet and Laurent Hairabétian have been assimilated. The arrivals of South African Rudi Dames at fly-half, Laurent Buchet at fullback, and Georgian international Urushadze at number 8 have rebalanced the team. Olivier Achaintre has reshuffled his backline with Jauffrey Marras moving to scrum-half, Julien Kinane to the wing, and Eric Delage to the center. This adjustment, for now, is paying off. But the XV of Nice is not getting carried away. The last game against Saint-Raphaël has left its marks: “We won. So it’s a good accounting operation but we have paid the price,” laments the club director. Urushadze received a red card and will be suspended. Olivier Guiran took a punch. He had to be hospitalized Sunday evening to have his teeth realigned. Dean Moxham has a damaged eye but should be able to play. Jonathan Cardona, Gwenael Pontier are doubtful due to muscle problems in the thigh. Fabrice Bourroul is out due to an ankle sprain. Except for the last named, all the doubtfuls are forwards. Julien Schramm criticizes the players from Var: “They came to destroy us and the referee was not able to control the match.” He does not hide his concern for Sunday: “Grasse is very solid upfront. At present, we do not have the means to counter them. We would have liked to have a full squad.” Let’s hope for the Nice team that by Sunday, most of the injured will be fit.”
Eric Berdeu, president of RO Grasse, regrets, like his Sunday opponents, not being able to line up the fifteen starting players: “Against Romans we had 13 players unavailable, 11 against Draguignan. We will get a few more back against Nice but will still be weakened. In the first match, we won with our typical team and highly motivated players.” Why so many injuries on the Grasse side? It’s explained by the condition of the training field which weakens the bodies especially of the heavyweights. Both teams are being humble and suppose the opposing rugby players to be superior. “Nice is in a very good phase. Compared to October, the trend has reversed and they have strengthened,” respects his Azuréen counterpart and his development: “They are structuring and a big club will be made in the Azuréen capital which is logical given the size of the city. We amazed by staying three years in Federal 1 thanks to highly valuable people at the club. Our goal is to move up but we cannot go beyond. We compete with RNCA today as we are in the same pool but this rivalry can not exist in the long term as we do not play in the same category.”
Complimenting the opponent too much becomes suspicious. All these words are part of the game. This war seen on rugby fields where players never refuse combat, contact, and sacrifice for a teammate. A rugby battle by the rules of the art for victory and the love of the game (victory first of course) is announced for Sunday at Perdigon. The winner, like in the first match, will be the rugby from Nice.
Recap of the first match: [Grasse beats Nice (15-18) and rugby emerges the grand winner](https://www.nicepremium.fr/article/grasse-bat-nice-(15-18)-et-le-rugby-sort-grand-vainqueur.1233.html)
Mac Donald’s new partner of the RNCA
“Rugby is a sport with appealing values, values of teamwork, dynamism.,” Serge Jahier, market director of Mac Donald’s Nice subsidiary, explains the reasons for his company’s partnership with the Nice rugby club. He proudly wears the number 6 jersey of the RNCA. Mac Donald’s joins the numerous partners of Nice rugby. He sums up his company’s commitment to the sport currently on the rise with 10,000 spectators on average in the Top 14: “It’s a meeting, an opportunity, an adventure. It’s not just sponsorship and we can do a lot.” A lot and not just for the first team. It is planned that all teams and the 600 licensed club members will benefit from this agreement centered around rugby. “It’s not just about providing a check. It’s an evolving and civic partnership. It’s not limited in time and will evolve.”
The RNCA is doing well, structuring with the president Christian Baldacchino at the helm. He compares it to a start-up that is developing and growing. The sporting results are there. A climb to a higher division is reasonably foreseeable. The RNCA even becomes a victim of its success. For the first year, due to lack of fields and coaches, the club had to refuse young rugby players. Is it the RNCA effect before the World Cup effect? Definitely. “The goal remains to create a center of life and exchange at Arboras entirely dedicated to rugby,” shares Christian Baldacchino. Because Serge Jahier believes in this project, Mac Donald’s has decided to commit and support the development of the RNCA.
