New Zealanders check out Soustons facilities

toWith pride, the Mayor of Soustons, Frédérique Charpenel, arrived this Sunday, May 7, 2023 at about 9:30 am, with a bouquet of ferns – the emblem of New Zealand – that she had just picked a few minutes earlier in the woods.

toWith pride, the Mayor of Soustons, Frédérique Charpenel, arrived this Sunday, May 7, 2023 at about 9:30 am, with a bouquet of ferns – the emblem of New Zealand – that she had just picked a few minutes earlier in the woods.

It was a great day, for the management of the Isle Verte Sports Center, called the official preparation center for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, and also for the municipality of Soustons, the administration and of course the community of the Macs commune (Maremne Adour Côte sud) that has put every opportunity on its side to attract the seven rugby teams The men and women of the All Blacks return to their lands, in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Advanced negotiations

Prior to contractually terminating this visit to New Zealand, which is expected from 2 to 22 July 2024, the staff delegation visited the facilities in detail for two and a half hours. Along with Mike Anthony, New Zealand Rugby’s ‘Performance Director’, Clark Laidlaw, Corey Sweeney, David Ormurd and Jess Jones reviewed the quality of the infrastructure and their concerns about the condition of the pitches, internet speed, rooms, patrons on equipment, number of weights in the weight room etc. .

“We’re at Soustons, it’s great”

If the staff, who had arrived from Angles, took care to ask if they could come in shorts or if formal wear was required – ‘we’re in Soustons, it’s great’ [c’est cool, NDLR] The municipal teams smiled – this New Zealand visit to Lands wasn’t just a compliment.

Is it possible to swim in the lake? Is there another sitting room? The questions are related to each other, even if the negotiations are really more than progress. A mediator commissioned by the Community of Municipalities has even advised Mike Anthony to approach fellow New Zealander Jerome Kaino, to gather his impressions of the Soustons Sports Centre, who has recently come there with Stade Toulousain.

interactions and exchanges

In the list of specifications, one standard will particularly attract the attention of rugby fans. “The players want to have real interactions and contacts with the residents, that the training is open to the public, and that there are exchanges,” explains the interpreter, quoting Mike Anthony’s words.

But the New Zealand All Blacks Sevens (men’s team) and Black Ferns Sevens (women’s team) are clearly not coming to Soustons and France just to show off.

Mike Anthony, bouncing back on Mayor Frédéric Charpinel’s speech listing the last of the sacred sports teams after preparations in Soston, said his teams would train here with the goal of winning Olympic gold, for men, not women.