Saturday November 16, Rodez defeated Mont-de-Marsan in a crazy match at the Amphitheater, thus taking sole lead of his Nationale 3 group.
“It would be dishonest of me to say that we don’t want to stay first! We deserved it, the guys worked hard to get here, now we want to enjoy and stay at the top as long as possible.” Saturday evening, it was difficult for Ruthenian coach Matija Sagadin to hide the new ambitions of his team. By winning against Mont-de-Marsan, favorite to advance to Nationale 2 and co-leader of the group with the RBA before kick-off, at the end of a crazy match that ended in overtime (92-85), the Aveyronnais have confirmed their status “surprise team of this championship”.
“No one expected us to reach this level, but we got there with a lot of merit and commitmentshouted the technician on the floor, not yet recovered from his emotions. But we have to remain humble, because we are only a third of the way through the championship, we know that we will have difficult away matches in the second phase.”
“When you are first, everyone wants your skin”
While the gang of Valentin Gelin and Luca Bonnal has just had what is perhaps the best in the group, they have four days left to try to conclude the first leg phase in the lead. And on paper, Rodez seems to have the capacity, since three of its posters will face teams from the bottom of the ranking: Tresses (13th), in two weeks, Élan Tursan (11th) and Bordeaux II (14th). In the meantime, the blood and gold will also go to Malaussanne (5th), on December 7, for a duel which promises to be much tougher, since the Basque team has won five of its six matches on its floor. “It’s not the same team away and at home, where they give their life. We will be targeted, it will be up to us to be mentally ready as well”explains Sagadin.
The RBA coach continues with the next events on the calendar: “It will be difficult, because we are going outside (three times in the last four matches of the first leg) and when you’re first, everyone wants your skin. ” But if the Piton club shows the same face as Saturday at the Amphitheater, it could then start dreaming!
