Stade Lagonnais or the heart method

Will they achieve the feat? After a French Federal 1 championship title in 2023, the Girondins will experience a new French National 2 championship final.

Barely promoted and already finalists. Nothing seems to be able to stop Langon, the little thumb of National 2. The club has a tight budget of 950,000 euros for this season, three times less than the richest. Amateur players in the middle of a division of professionals… and yet, it is the title and the climb that they will play for this Sunday.

But how do they do it? It’s difficult, from the outside, to imagine the mechanics of the method used by coaches Christophe Hamacek and Romain Cabannes. But after the semi-final, one thing became obvious. This group is above all a group of friends who build their adventure through work, trust and emotion.

Sunday May 5, 2:30 p.m., locker rooms at the Saint-Jean-d’Angély Municipal Stadium. Sound of crampons on cement, staring stares, final moments of calm. The reds and whites are focused, in 30 minutes they will face Rennes, a big Nationale 2 team.

“We know these guys, we know how they play… It’s nothing crazy… We go up and knock them down.” The words of third row Simon Zubizarreta resonate in the cramped locker room. Simple instructions to make the link with the gestures repeated again and again in training throughout the seasons.

They all know, 80 minutes separate them from an incredible moment, a second consecutive French championship final. So when Maxime Gau speaks in turn, he calls for something else. The 34-year-old veteran pillar walked the TOP 14 pitches under the colors of La Rochelle and Stade Français. He knows rugby as well as he knows his team. It mobilizes what makes up its deep identity.

“The heart is the most important thing we have this season.. That’s what started us: that we be friends with each other… and that’s what will make us win today…we will fight for each other”, says Maxime Gau.

No need to say more. Jaws close, bonds tighten, men look at each other. It’s time.

What follows is 80 minutes of beautiful, hard-fought rugby in front of a fired-up crowd. The Girondins respond as they always do: with unshakeable confidence and unfailing solidarity. The Rennes opponent, dominated in the first half, cannot overthrow the Langonnais wall during the second. Today, this defense is far too tight, far too linked. No talent will find a mouse hole to cross it.

Final whistle, the whole city is exulting. This team has just achieved the unthinkable: it has won its place in the final of the French championship in a national 2 which it has only just joined.

On the field, players, managers and supporters savor the moment. A few tears, a common joy that overflows, and almost incredulous smiles. However, we will quickly have to put away these emotions and re-mobilize for another meeting, even crazier, even more beautiful: this Sunday in Massy, ​​against Marcq-en-Barœul, 80 minutes of fight for a historic shield.