Rugby – Universities football at Plaisir Rugby Club during France and New Zealand

The Rugby World Cup in France, which opened on September 8 and runs until October 28, is also an opportunity to highlight amateur clubs through various initiatives. Plaisir Rugby Club (PRC), the flagship club of SQY and Yvelines, has been awarded by the French Rugby Federation (FFR) to have its trainee players serve as ball collectors for the opening match between France and New Zealand, to be played on 8 September at the Stade de France. They are therefore one of 12 teams to carry the flag or collect the ball in Ile-de-France in the competition.

“It is already a personal pride for them,” said Guillaume Renault, PRC sporting director, whom he met on September 6 during rugby events at the Aushopping Grand Plaisir shopping centre, of which the PRC is a partner. That’s what we told them, an event like this, especially near the field, is something you only experience once in your life, so make the most of every second, take it all in. After that, they have a fairly strict framework, because they have no right to show their feelings, no right to encouragement, and must remain as neutral as possible. »

So they had to estimate in a very restrained way the victory of the Blues over the All Blacks (27-13). But there is no doubt that these young women of rugby had stars in their eyes. “And then, for the club, it’s a source of pride. […] “This project allows our young people to participate, and this is the most important thing,” adds Guillaume Renaud. It’s really the key word for the club today, coaching, so, when we can get that kind of project and nurture it, we know that behind it, it builds loyalty, and the fact that it builds loyalty will also bring back, because we’ll be talking to our friends about it, and we know that we’ll be able to Attracting more and more, this is the club’s goal. »

The club could also have had another team closer to the World Cup matches, but in the end, the rookies saw their dream shattered after chaos with Al-Ittihad. “We registered two teams: the junior team and the junior team,” recalls Guillaume Renaud. At the end of April and beginning of May, FFR reminds us that two teams have been selected as ball collectors. So they told us that the students are the ones collecting the balls for the opening match […]On the other hand nothing for the little ones. »

He continued: “As the days passed, people came back to me several times about the students, but not about the juniors. So at some point, I called FFR again, […] And there, there was another person who said to me: “I don’t have the PRC on the little ones.” But in the document they sent, it was clearly stated that the PRC rookies are ball pickers. We reached out to our players, so we reached out again to our players to say they are not ball collectors. They took it well, and behind that, I asked the French Football Federation for a gesture, so we had France Info and France Bleu who came to interview the players, to give a bit of insight as well. »

The People’s Republic of China also organizes other Rugby World Cup-related events. “We have collected tickets for World Cup matches, in this case between Ireland and Scotland, from the French Football Federation and the Ile-de-France Rugby League, so we put them up for sale in a raffle. After that, we organize activities within the club for the World Cup itself, and we also do a lot of School initiatives to take advantage of this event and raise awareness of rugby a little more,” says the sporting director.

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