Un air of deja vu. As in 2018 on the road to his last title, Castres offered himself the scalp of his neighbor Toulouse (24-18), outgoing champion, in Nice on Friday June 17, in the semi-finals of the Top 14. Winner at the end of the suspense in a derby atmosphere, the CO will face in the final on June 24, the eighth in its history, Bordeaux-Bègles or Montpellier, opposed Saturday, to the Allianz Riviera as well.
After having already lost its European title last month, Stade Toulouse said goodbye to its Brennus shield. You have to see a certain sporting logic over the season since the “little” CO, for the first time in its history, had finished first in the regular phase, ahead of its ogre neighbor, fourth after going through all the states.
A fast pace of entry
In the usual den of OGC Nice footballers, fairly evenly shared between red and blue supporters, Stade Toulousain, as during its victorious barrage against La Rochelle (33-28) last week, had yet set a big pace of entry. Dominating in conquest, the men of Ugo Mola gradually lowered their tone and let their indiscipline the Castrais return to the match thanks to the precise foot of their Argentinian opener Benjamin Urdapilleta.
Under a more bearable temperature than that prevailing in Occitania, the Tarn club, much less in demand than its opponent for several months, finally took the lead as soon as they returned from the locker room. The Uruguayan scrum-half Santiago Arata, passed through the Castres hierarchy of the post in front of the local icon Rory Kockott, celebrated by his supporters, went to flatten his team’s first try (16-10, 43e). On an individual feat from the Blues opener Romain Ntamack, whose acceleration mystified the opposing defense, Toulouse seemed to pick up the thread of their match for a while.
Castres validates his ticket for the Stade de France
But the CO, still as combative, tore away to force the decision in the last ten minutes and validate his ticket for good to the Stade de France thanks to a new try, this time scored by the back Julien Dumora. A match in the image of a checkered season for Toulouse, which had started well before experiencing a major slump in the heart of winter in the absence of its many French internationals, retained by the tournament of Six Nations.