Reasons for failure fell breve

By losing at home to Custers on Saturday (13-16), the Brave officially recorded their relegation to Pro D2, even before the final day of the Top 14.

By Le Figaro with AFP

published On 05/14/2023 at 00:21

Saddled with injuries and inadequate recruiting this season, Brive saw their last hopes of remaining in the away top 14 on Saturday with a home defeat by Castres (16-13).

A day before the end of the tournament, the Corisians are seven points behind Perpignan, who pressed them by defeating the leader Toulouse (26-21) a little earlier.

This finale stuck in the face of CAB, which is finally good since February 18th and which hadn’t gone far from penitentiary last season.

Disastrous start to the season

Thanks to the final success on the field the laid-off Frenchman (33-17) had survived an uncertain barrage on the field to the unfortunate finalist in Pro D2.

Unlike in recent workouts, this time Coujoux couldn’t count on the supposed weakness of the season’s only pitcher, Bayonne, scratching real hair all the time.

The Basques redistributed the red zone cards among the division’s other small budgets, namely Castres, last year’s finalists, Pau and Perpignan.

Simon Gilham’s club this time accumulated a lot of delays, particularly due to the disastrous start to the season. On his first four receptions, he fell three times into his own court, which cost him his place to Northern Ireland manager Jeremy Davidson after the defeat against Stade Toulouse in mid-October (45-7).

Long term injuries

Nothing went right for Coryzin, deprived for a large part of the season of several key players such as Said Hiric, Sitariki Pitonata, Luca Jabaridze, Tomas Laranjera or even Joris Jorand.

These absences forced them to throw in the deep end of young players (Leo Carbono, Matisse Verti, Tom Raffy) due to insufficient staffing (7 coming in, 13 leaving), due to being forced by the DNACG (Directorate of National Aid and Administrative Control), which even blocked payroll. Funds arrive from English investor and majority shareholder Ian Osborne in early October.

During this season in Hell, there was really an explosion about the year-end festivities. Two days after formalizing the arrival of Patrice Collazo as coach, the Prevists introduced themselves to the Provincial Shock against Clermont (20-16) eight minutes into extra time. In the process, they won in Lyon (30-27) before eliminating Toulon (26-17), Collazo’s former club.

Fresh breathing was not enough

This improvement, which coincided with the arrival of Argentine international fly-half Nicholas Sanchez as an extra player, unfortunately did not follow through.

Penultimate in the standings on the evening of their success on RCT, with a 7-point lead over Perpignan, CAB then lost the match they should never lose, in their dugout, against their Catalan rivals (24 -22).

Without punching players in his group, and ruthlessly suffering from inefficiency in his back game, the Korez club then went on a seven-game losing streak since the end of January and sank dangerously close to their downfall.

The Brave, who have been playing in the top flight since 2019, will be looking next season to find him immediately, as confirmed by third line Welsh international recruit Ross Moriarty, New Zealand fly-half and Maori international Jackson Garden Bishop.