The residents of Drôme have amassed 37 points and the lead, with the Nice team just 2 points behind, while the third and fourth teams will also compete in Corsican territory with a Bastia-Grasse match of the same caliber. The standings could be quite shaken up after this round, depending on the victories and defeats, but it’s certain that the level will be high on the plains of Var this weekend. The first of seven matches before the final count thus appears to be a turning point in this return phase of a very tight championship, with 5 teams separated by just 3 points.
Nice Premium met with Julien Schramm to check the pulse of the team a few days before this big match. With him, there are no excesses, no noise, and certainly no sugar-coating when presenting a match that smells of the highest level, especially since it’s been 30 years at the Stade Méarelli.
Nice Premium: Julien, this Sunday it’s Nice-Romans. Your thoughts a few days before this big match?
Julien Schramm: It’s a pivotal moment in our season, with seven matches left until the end of this qualifying phase. Everything is very tight in our pool. There’s Romans, but also Bastia, Sorgues, and Grasse very close. If we win, we join Romans in first place, and we stay on track for direct promotion to Federal 1. If we lose, we let Romans pull ahead, let our chasers catch up to us, and we can almost say goodbye to first place. That’s how important this match is for the team and for the whole club.
NP: How is the club handling this week?
JS: With a lot of motivation and commitment from everyone. From the players who are eager to prove their true worth. From the leaders who are keen to demonstrate how much the club has progressed in recent months in its organization and infrastructure. I want to highlight the work of Paul-Henri Safayan and his company Com1pro rugby communication who joined us this season to help develop the club.
The pressure is mounting each day. We would have liked to field a complete team, but our center, Fabrice Bourroul, is still out (ankle sprain), prop Jonathan Cardona (back) is also absent, and one of our locks, François Pagliai, suffered a severe ankle sprain Tuesday night during training. He will be out for a month.
Luckily, the squad has been beefed up. The arrivals in December of Rudi Dames, Laurent Buchet, and Rati Urushadze have allowed us to level up. These are players with great potential…
Regardless of the team fielded, the RNCA needs to make a strong impact on Sunday, at all levels: on the pitch, in the stands, in organizing the event…
NP: A tough derby in Grasse. What was the coach’s and the directors’ analysis of this match?
JS: A tie against such a fundamentally solid team, which has a rich collective experience, is good, it’s encouraging, that’s what we told ourselves.
The team delivered a very serious match defensively… but we all know that our team is only performing at 60% of its true potential. The pool is tough, teams are transcending against us, they all want to topple Nice, sometimes it’s very close, and we struggle to develop our game. Despite the evident talent, the squad is young and fairly new. We need to show more character, dominate physically and mentally to then be able to impose our style of play.
NP: Tell us about these few days leading up to the match?
JS: The players had an extra training session on Monday. This allowed Marc Pujolle, whom we asked to assist our coach Olivier Achaintre, to familiarize himself. He took over the forwards for specific work on lineouts and scrums, areas where we are still very much perfectible. And then his experience, his presence, his high-level background are important parameters for the players. We expect a lot from him.
