In a packed Stade de la Cipale, PUC, a historic club in the French rugby landscape, secured their ticket to Fédérale 1 for next season. “A real source of pride”, says manager Vincent Lenouvel, who spoke at length to It’s Rugby.
Lenouvel, who also works for Stade Français — players and staff all hold down more than one job — looks back on the tie against Gennevilliers, highlights the mindset of his squad and is now targeting the Fédérale 1 title. Interview.
IT’S RUGBY. – Vincent, how do you feel after sealing promotion to Fédérale 1?
Vincent Lenouvel: I feel extremely good because it’s two seasons of work paying off. Last year, we simply wanted to make the season as long and as enjoyable as possible, without any quantifiable targets. Fate led us to a promotion match that came down to a single point on the last play. So we were hungry to come back, this time with the firm intention of taking the club back up to Fédérale 1. That’s done, with a season that was even more complete than the previous one. We qualified for the play-offs, we were top throughout the championship. That match, the crowning moment in our cathedral at the Cipale, made everyone happy. It was an enormous party.
What did those two years in Fédérale 2 bring you?
Above all, we started again on healthy foundations, putting certain principles back at the heart of the project. The human dimension, competition for places, involving as many people as possible… In the first year, 56 players featured for the first team. This year, 48. That’s still enormous. We got our appetite back and it paid off.
The Stade de la Cipale was bursting at the seams. How did you manage to mobilise so many people?
It was crazy. Even the old boys said they had never seen the Cipale with so many people in it. We ran a simple communications operation with a video before the last-16 tie and a reminder of what was at stake. Nothing special, in the end. A lot of young people came, that was lovely.
Can you talk us through that tie against Gennevilliers?
We knew it was going to be difficult. Gennevilliers are a very hard team to manoeuvre. They have big qualities in the physical battle, which is still an essential factor in performance. They threw everything at it, especially in the second leg. In the first leg, we managed to be strong on their strengths, very pragmatic and in control. In the second leg, they had far more ball than us, but we knew how to weather it. At half-time, we led 9-3. We only had three attacking possessions, but we scored points every time. They struggled to score because we defended well, with a real mindset. In the second half, we score almost immediately to go 16-3 up. At that point we have total control of the game, 24 points up on aggregate. Then we lose the thread a little. We pick up a card, then a second after a run of penalties. That puts them back in the game. They start to believe again. We’re a man down and that puts us in trouble right up to the last play. They make a huge break, but we produce a magnificent defensive intervention that lets us win the ball back and kick it into touch. We finish five points up on aggregate.
That match will above all serve us for what comes next. At 16-3, we have to be far more in control, keep a clear head. If we do the same thing on Sunday, we’ll go out. So it’s cool, because it seals promotion. But it also puts us on alert about what awaits us in the next three matches.
Between winning a shield and going up, I'd take being champions a thousand times over
We’re talking about this promotion, but there’s still a shield to go and win…
I’d go as far as saying that’s the number one objective. Between winning a shield and going up, I’d take being champions a thousand times over. We knew the shield objective ran through promotion, so this promotion is a stage. It lets us put the club back where we believe it belongs and live a magnificent moment. We had the luxury of being able to play that promotion match in front of our families, our loved ones, the whole squad, the rugby school, the cadets, the juniors, all the volunteers. Now we’re on to our own objective: going after a piece of wood that hasn’t come back to the club since 2004, on neutral ground.
There’s that memory of 2004, precisely, when your predecessors managed to win a shield…
Exactly. In 2004, nothing was easy for the club. They had a very average first half of the season, two or three players arrived along the way who made a difference, and in the end they started to believe in something and went all the way. Here, I’d say we’re in something similar. Nothing has been easy for us. The Paris facilities don’t make life comfortable. Nor does our economic model. But it does offer guarantees on mindset and that’s the essential thing. We have this image of the Paris club that everyone wants to crush, when 80% of Parisians come from the provinces (smiles). That’s another debate. Being the historic club, the Paris club, we’re always a bit alone against everyone. We’re going to use that to focus on ourselves, and make sure we relive the emotions they must have felt in 2004.
PUC is also a fine mix of young players and more experienced ones?
When we launched the project two years ago, we wanted to build on young players we could develop. Our approach is that of a coach, not a selector: trusting lads on the basis of their character, even if it means moving them to a new position. Players who played centre or on the wing switched to the back row. Others went from hooker to prop. We challenged them on that. We have a few old heads, not many, whom we lean on to preserve the club’s values. They’re the first to mess about, of course, but also the first to calm everyone down. We try to give more and more responsibility to those who carry on, because some of the older ones are stopping. We include them in the decision-making processes, in the day-to-day choices, in what we put in place during the week. It’s very much co-built. It works well because the lads aren’t there out of obligation. They’re there because what we put in place interests them, and they want to improve and enjoy themselves.
Do you hope this promotion can shift things and allow the club to grow?
No, I hope for nothing. I’m aware of the Paris context, which is unique. We rent pitches to train on, where at 98% of clubs they’re already available. We’re not THE club in Paris, we’re A club in Paris. A potential sponsor won’t feel any more represented by us than by any other Paris club. The density of clubs is such that there is little or no sense of exclusive belonging. Those who help PUC are those who have a particular connection with PUC. That has its limits, and that will remain how a Paris club works.
It's a source of pride that a club about to celebrate its 120th anniversary on 20 June can come back to the best level of the amateur federal game
You’ve sealed promotion but you still have to battle for a shield… Isn’t that complicated to manage? Have you turned your attention to recruitment?
No, it’s not difficult because the number one objective is to be champions. Not to recruit. That said, we’re already in contact with players, mostly lads who have approached us or come back to us. Last year, I put a lot of energy in before knowing where we’d be playing, and in the end few lads joined us. That taught me to be selective on recruitment. What I tell players is: it mustn’t be conditional on promotion but on a project. If you don’t buy into the project, then whatever level we’re at, goodbye and no hard feelings. Recruitment is virtually wrapped up. Since Sunday, I’ve had the lads on the phone, it’s confirmed. First and foremost we’re counting on keeping our squad together. Two competitive seasons, finishing top, that also says something about the quality of our players. We’ll recruit according to our needs. Where there’s no need, we won’t go looking for an extra player. We trust the lads who have worked all season to earn this. The right to play in Fédérale 1 belongs to them first.
Taking this club up to Fédérale 1, we imagine that’s a source of pride for a historic club like PUC…
Yes, it’s an enormous source of pride. Beyond that, it’s also the pride of letting people who work in the shadows have a taste of this promotion. I’m thinking of my president Jérôme Bousquet, of Patrice Vialette, our general secretary, of all our volunteers who work day in, day out around the team, on the board, at the rugby school. It’s great for them because the first team remains the club’s shop window. Taking the club back up to Fédérale 1 proves it’s on the right track. There are always plenty of difficulties, plenty of things to improve, but the club is healthy and it’s where it belongs. It’s a source of pride that a club about to celebrate its 120th anniversary on 20 June can come back to the best level of the amateur federal game.
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