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Back with a bang - Jonny
Wilkinson kicked 15 points
Photo: Michael Paler |
Toulon flanker and FRC columnist Joe El Abd
can't wait for the new season to begin after a pre-season
camp in the Alps and three successful friendly matches. The
juices are flowing once more and the intensity stepped up a
notch with Friday's 39-10 trouncing of Racing-Métro.
The
last time I wrote my blog a couple of weeks ago
we were about to play our first friendly match of the season
against Aix-en-Provence. I always like it when the
pre-season games start because it usually means an end to
the high intensity training associated with pre season.
While training has still been tough, the emphasis is now on
rugby and getting us ready on the pitch for the start of the
season.
As I mentioned
previously the match verses Aix was organised to raise money
following the flash floods that hit Draguinon in June. On
driving through the village to the ground the damage
inflicted by the floods was plain to see and I am sure the
3000 strong crowd raised some much needed funds for the
area.
The match itself was a
strange affair as the first 60 minutes was played as a game
of directed touch. It was directed to the degree that for
the first ten minutes we played off line-outs in different
parts of the field followed by Aix doing the same. We did
the same with scrums and then kick-offs to complete the
60minutes of touch. Following this the game went ‘real’ for
the final 20 minutes. It was quite strange as anyone who has
played rugby will know that there is a slightly different
mindset between a game of touch and a full contact match. As
a consequence of this I am not sure that the intensity was
of a normal game but we did manage to score a couple of
tries to get the season off to a winning start.
Brotherly love
Our second pre-season
game was played last Saturday against OU Lyon. It was a
family affair as Lyon are coached by PSA’s brother Raphael.
It was made clear to us during the week that while it was a
friendly match in no way were we to lose against the brother
of the boss! Luckily we did end up winning the game if not
by a totally convincing margin of 30-18. Lyon were unlucky
not to get promoted to the Top 14 last year after narrowly
losing out in the play-off final. They seem to have
recruited well over the summer and I think they will go into
this years ProD2 campaign as one of the favourites for
promotion.
On the Sunday after the game we left for Serre Chavalier in
the Alps for our pre-season training camp. Most teams take
part in a camp of some sort in an attempt to bring the team
closer together as a unit. Our internationals, Jonny
Wilkinson, Felipe Contemponi and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe
also joined us for the camp making our squad complete. On
the first day we all went down a 500m zip-wire before taking
some mountain bikes on a two hour bike ride through the
mountains. The day was finished off by sleeping under the
stars around a bonfire. While sleeping in just a sleeping
bag was not overly comfortable it did serve to make all of
us more appreciative of a good night's sleep in a proper
bed!
On the second day we
were woken up at 6am to go on a hike around the countryside
before ending up at a base for white-water rafting. As you
can imagine the boat with Carl Hayman, Dean Schofield, Chris
Chesney, David Kubriasvili and Dewald Senekal (all well over
120Kg) wasn’t the first to make it to the end! Quite what
they were thinking I will never know!
The rest of the camp
involved rugby training, meetings and recovery sessions in
what turned out to be a very successful trip. You can catch
some of our trip on video at Toulon's website.
Here's Jonny
The intensity of our
preparations stepped up a notch this weekend with a game
against Racing Metro at the Stade Mayol on Friday night.
There was a sell-out crowd and the match was screened live
on television, which is unusual for a pre season friendly.
It didn’t take long for Jonny Wilkinson to show that he is
already in top form as he kicked 15 points in the first half
to take us into the half-time interval with a healthy 20-0
lead.
After what must have
been a difficult summer for him with the England team his
all-round abilities were there for all to see. I always feel
that winning is a habit so even though it was a friendly
game wining 39-10 will give us added confidence going into
the next match and the start of the season. The new guys at
the club sampled a taste of the real atmosphere served up by
the Toulon supporters for the first time and I know that
they were not disappointed.
We play our final
pre-season friendly against Stade Francais on Thursday
before the Top 14 kicks off the following week. and that’s
when the hard work really begins.
Top 14 Fixtures 2010/11
A Bientot
Previous columns:
14.07.10 -
Fatherhood,
Ferraris and 40-degree heat - Pre-season Toulon stylee
14.05.10 -
