Massy is more than ever at the head of the National Championship (3rd federal rugby division) and has already taken a big step towards qualifying for the final phase of accession to ProD2. The Essonne club overcame SC Albi this Saturday evening at the Jules-Ladoumègue stadium (27-7), taking the measure of their opponent in the second half.
12 points ahead of his runner-up
Massy consolidates its first place with 63 points in 15 days. It’s 12 more than Angoulême, 2nd with one game less, and 14 over their opponents of the day, third. Suffice to say that, 9 days before the end of this championship, qualification is on the right track.
However, everything was not easy for the Massicois once morest the Albigenses who had beaten them at the very start of the season, before their crazy series. The Blues and Blacks returned to the break with a meager lead of 3 points (10-7), Albi applying to disrupt Massy in the rucks. But the players of Matthieu Bonello, the former coach of Massy who left for the Tarn this summer, will eventually give in in the middle of the second period, conceding 10 points in 10 minutes. The Massicois will complete their success with a last try so that the party is total in front of their public.
“We are enjoying it because we are well aware that this season is exceptional, reacts the Essonne coach Jean-Baptiste Di Martino. Until the 60th we were not immune but we have such confidence in our collective that we are able to win the match whatever the scenario. We know that we have freshness in the last 25 minutes and I want to take my hat off to the forwards who had a huge game”. “It’s also nice to find this atmosphere and this public at the stadium”, rejoiced the opening half Massimo Ortolan.
On the way to the pro D2…
With this thirteenth victory in a row, Massy has now beaten all the teams of the National. Les Bleus et Noirs will be the team to beat for the rest of the season, starting next week for a new clash at Soyaux-Angoulême, their runners-up in the standings. In this championship, the first two are directly qualified for the semi-finals, where they will be opposed at the end of May to the winners of the play-offs between the teams classified from 3rd to 6th place. The two qualified for the final will advance to ProD2. This is the stated objective of Massy this year.
