After an unequivocal first day for the Nice team, who defeated Annonay 26/6 at home, while Nancy played a family match against the France Pole in Nancy, defeated 16/6, the women’s championship dives into the thick of things from the second day with this top-of-the-chart match.
The girls from the French Riviera are determined to abandon their runner-up status and snatch the crown from their seniors, in both age and reign, of ASPTT Nancy.
Robert Norait’s team, the new Nice coach, is mainly composed of young players from Nice, mostly cadets and juniors trained at the club by Elie Carreau. After the departure of five players (due to studies or professional reasons), the group has been strengthened with four new young recruits: Émilie Alberto and Lorie Flickinger (Echirolles), both 20 years old, and Perrine Metay and Angela Winstanley (Bordeaux), both 21 years old.
This first home match for the Nice team also serves as a good test a month before the Champions Cup, which will take place in Nice from December 7 to 10.
Robert Norait will gauge his team’s ability to maintain a European pace that the players from Lorraine handle well: “With the arrival of Perrine and Angela, both internationals in the France and England teams, we have two more players with international experience. They will reinforce the maturity of the group, which should assert itself against Nancy if all goes well.”
Robert Norait coached the men’s National 3 team last year and discovers this season the women’s water polo and the European level: “It’s not entirely a discovery. I accompanied Elie Carreau and the women’s team numerous times last year on trips, and the National 3 boys’ team trained regularly with the girls. As for the European Cup and the international level, I experienced it as a player in Nice and on the France team. It will be a first for me as a coach, but we will play at home, and I will have all the club experience in the Euroleague to back me up.”
During the first match of the 2006 final in Nice, ONN defeated ASPTT Nancy 5/4 and then lost 9/5 and 8/5 in the last two matches in Nancy.
This first encounter of the season should rekindle the suspense of the championship if the young Nice team manages to end the hegemony of Nancy.
