As a preamble to the clash between the two co-leaders of Pool C of Nationale 3, Rodez and Mont-de-Marsan, Saturday November 16, Ruthenian interior Mansour Diouf talks about his team’s almost perfect start to the exercise.
At the start of the season, you have seven victories for just one defeat. What first assessment do you draw from your start to the championship?
We’re off to a real great start to the season. We are very intense on both ends of the pitch. The recruits are really good for us. We have a few more rotations (than last year) and the chemistry really took off between us.
Cold, what do you remember from your last victory, on the floor of Réal Chalossais (82-91)?
Having played in the Landes when I was younger, we really made a big splash. It’s almost impossible to win there, given the atmosphere, the intensity, the environment. We sent a big message in the group, saying: “Be careful, Rodez will also win against big teams who are renowned for being invincible at home.” This is the confirmation we needed. It gives us confidence. We have players who are very young, so it’s super important for them to win matches and have that confidence.
You seem to have reached a real milestone this season compared to the last…
We clearly position ourselves as one of the leaders of the group. However, we must not forget that at the start of the season, we only aimed to maintain. We changed groups, we arrived in the Landes group, so we knew it was going to be very complicated. We had very young players who had never played senior and Lucas Bonnal who had not played for three, four years, so we did not know how to position ourselves.
By being tied for first before the summit match on Saturday evening, aren’t you a little obliged to now revise your ambitions upwards and aim for advancement?
We try not to worry about that. We want to have as much fun as possible. Afterwards, if we can finish first at the end of the season, we will do it. But to say today that this is our objective, I cannot comment on that.
How are you approaching the match against Mont-de-Marsan?
We know that this is a team that should not be taken lightly, which is very, very strong. We will do everything to win. We want to try to maintain our invincibility at home. The goal is not to lose a home game this season. It might be dangerous to move forward with that, but that’s the goal.
It’s also for these matches that we play basketball. It’s a match that can ensure that we play something at the end of the season.
