In Extenso Supersevens: change in continuity for Stade Rochelais Sevens

Although the squad has been significantly reshuffled before the Dax tournament this Saturday, the principles remain the same for Lancelot Luteau's men, according to whom La Rochelle "is not starting from scratch" before facing Aviron Bayonnais in the last 16.

Thirteenth – out of 16 – in Mont-de-Marsan, the Stade Rochelais Sevens is back in the Landes on Saturday, August 23, for the second stage of the In Extenso Supersevens. In Dax, this time. This is not the only change since, in addition to the fact that the natural pitch of Maurice-Boyau replaces the synthetic pitch of the André-et-Guy-Boniface stadium, there are many new faces in the maritime group – the Espoirs are in full preparation for their XV season –, which only has four players who played in the tournament on August 16.

Matthew Ford is one of them. While Lancelot Luteau, the Stade de France manager, has been teasing him a bit about how his week was handled, the squad leader confides that his discomfort following a blow to the upper thigh is no longer relevant. Above all, he's pumped up thanks to the commitment of his new teammates ahead of the first match, against Bayonne. "We had a lot of moments to get the right messages across, with the coaches and among ourselves. What I saw today is a team that wants it and has still learned some points of reference," he emphasized this Thursday.

"This week, we were able to do one or two more sequences, so we were able to take the time to do a bit of blackboard or video to demonstrate things and more field sequences to work on the principles. I have the impression that it's showing a little, even if some haven't played 7s in recent months," Matthew Ford explains. "We're not starting from scratch because some players stayed and those who came back have already played a bit with us and know each other, so the connections are made. Afterwards, there are just a few rugby habits to put in place, but overall, it went pretty well. Especially since we had more time to discuss each other's roles," Lancelot Luteau relays.

“We mainly worked on reading, placements and communication.”

"We didn't come close last week (against UBB, in the last 16, Editor's note), it came down to details, we tried to work on them to avoid making the same mistakes again," says the new technician. "We're bringing in 10 players, for whom this will be their first tournament, their first efforts as a 7-man squad, we hope that those who stayed will ensure that we avoid the slight slump of last week. But we mainly worked on reading, positioning and communication, because that's what mainly prevented us from finishing the actions" in Mont-de-Marsan.

In Dax, on a natural pitch that is de facto slower, where the bounces and support will be different, it should be cooler, which should encourage play and initiative. Could this also be the case with the draw since, this time, neither UBB nor Monaco are likely to stand in the way of the Yellow and Black at the start of the day? "Yes and no. We're definitely not taking on the Supersevens giants, but in the meantime, Bayonne finished 5th on Saturday, plays good rugby, and we know their coach, who played for La Rochelle (Sébastien Morel, the former manager of the Espoirs, editor's note). It's going to be complicated, we tried everything we could to try to get through this first round. Like Bayonne...", Luteau realizes.

"I have no idea if they're changing their squad or not, but on Saturday, we saw a 'classic Basque' team, tenacious with good rugby players who control the ball well," adds Ford. "We hope our team will be able to turn the match around with a few moves." This is to really kick-start the 2025 season for the sevens section.