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'Crowds
try to make the ground
as hostile a place as possible'
©
RCN Toulon |
Toulon flanker, and FRC columnist, Joe El Abd
this week tackles the thorny subject of why so few teams
seem to win away from home in France's Top 14.
I mentioned in a previous post about
how I’d been told before that when I came out to France I
shouldn’t expect to win away from home. Well, after
losing for a third time away from home this weekend
I thought it would be an opportune moment to talk about
playing away in France.
Top 14 Table
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Top 14 try-scorers
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Top 14 Results
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Top 14
Fixtures
So far this season the statistics would
certainly suggest that winning away in France is more
difficult when compared to the other leagues in Europe.
After eight rounds in the Top 14 the away side has won less
than 18% of the time. This is compared to 25% in the English
premiership and 45% of the time in the Magners league. I
know it’s early days but there does seem to be a trend. So
what are the possible reasons that make it so difficult to
win away in France?
1. The crowd
While in England, and especially at my
former club Bristol, fans are fanatical about their teams,
here in France the supporters seem to express their passion
more overtly. The home crowds in France try to make the
stadium as hostile a place as possible for the away team –
this is especially the case in Toulon whose fans have a
reputation throughout France! For example when we played
Stade Francais in the opening day of the season I was amazed
to see the Stade bench being barracked by the Toulon fans
while warming up behind the sticks. This is something
normally only reserved for football back in England. Also,
unlike in England where silence falls when a place kick is
about to be taken, in France the away kicker gets subjected
to whistles and boos. Whether it’s sporting or not it all
creates a very hostile environment for the away team.
2. The Referees
Another factor, which is related to the
crowd, is how the referees treat the away side. You only
have to look at the scenes after the match between Brive and
Biarritz to see how much intimidation is placed on the refs.
No-one can condone such behaviour but such events mean you
need a strong-willed referee to award decisions in favour of
the away team. I hate to think what the reaction of the
crowd would have been in Montpellier had the video referee
not awarded them a try in the dying minutes when we played
them two weeks ago. At times in that match it felt like the
crowd and not the referee were making the decisions, but
perhaps I am being cynical!
3. Psychology
If you are told enough times that you are not going to win
invariably you don’t. In the end it becomes a
self-fulfilling prophecy. I heard a great story the other
day from a friend of mine playing in ProD2. His team were
playing away from home and were losing by two points but had
an attacking scrum with the final play of the game. To his
amazement the number eight picked up the ball from the scrum
and kicked it straight into touch. He then turned to his
players and started celebrating the fact that they had
achieved a bonus point away from home. There wasn’t even a
thought about having one final attack to see if they could
win the game. Now I haven’t heard of such things happening
in the Top 14 but it shows how deeply ingrained the
attitudes are in French rugby.
There are certainly no such attitudes
here in Toulon. We treat every game on its merits and we
have been unlucky to lose two of our three away games in the
final minute. Nevertheless it doesn’t hide the fact that we
lost. While I do believe that the crowd, the referees and
the mindset of teams make it more difficult to win away in
France, teams such as Toulouse and Perpignan have been able
to buck the trend and won more than they lost away from home
last year, which shows it can be done. We will be trying to
change our fortunes away this weekend against Castres, so
fingers crossed.
A bientot
Previous columns:
22.09.09 -
'There's more to Jonny than just kicking'
14.09.09 -
Lesson number 1 - 'Pas de melée,
pas de victoire'
08.09.09 -
'The money's good, but so is the
weather, the rugby and the
crowds'
