Pro D2: “We must raise our standards”, SU Agen must have a proud reaction at Valence-Romans

– The group was very disappointed. » Dave Ryan makes no secret of it. The start of the week was complicated in Armandie. Faced with a group that wanted to seek possible qualification, we had to mourn Agen’s ambitions this season, after the slap received by Soyaux-Angoulême.

Faced with the first non-relegation battle (before the start of the match), Agenais never found the solutions to turn the tide. – We were unable to find funds. We were present in the energy and the fight at the start of the match, but we never scored, admits, fatalistically, Arnaud Duputs.

If the captain was suspended for this match, he immediately wanted to remobilize these squads for the end of the season, citing “maintenance to be ensured”. With eleven points ahead of Montauban, currently a play-off, SUA (10th) appears to have little room to maneuver with four days remaining. But be careful not to go on holiday too soon, because a defeat this Friday followed by another against Biarritz could completely shuffle the cards.

A unique bench with substitutes

So the training week did not leave room for the slightest relaxation. “The reaction is there,” assures Duputs, before continuing: “We are competitors. Now there is a difference between reacting to training and fighting. We need to transfer this reaction to the ground. »

A new face is therefore expected. But the opponent facing SUA is far from easy prey. Promotion, Valence-Romans are having a very good season (12th), and are only four points behind Agenais. Only Provence and Béziers managed to win the bid in Drôme.

Suffice it to say that Dave Ryan’s men have been warned. “They are capable of bringing madness into their games. They rotated a lot last week, and that’s why they targeted this meeting,” proclaims the Irishman. A sentiment shared by Duputs. – It’s a formation with big ball carriers in front eight. They have also two or three X-factors that can make the difference at any time. »

So Agen must be much more precise than in recent weeks. – We must have a solid foundation, says the evening captain.
In this sense, Lot-et-Garonnais must rediscover what had given them their strength in the previous block, namely realism. – We must raise our standards. There are a number of small mistakes that have serious consequences when you get into the scoring zone, assures the Basque.

Suspicious, SUA also has to deal with a lot of absences. The hooker and scrum-half positions are poor, which certainly forces Théo Sauzaret and Emile Dayral to act as interims. The absence of William Demotte, injured in the ribs, or Florent Guion and Clément Garrigues (rest) is also to be regretted. Whatever. The agent must react. you have to, otherwise you risk putting yourself in danger. As Jean-François Fonteneau told us, we must go “on command”.