Despite the Vannes slap, the RCT is more alive than ever in the race for the top 2

And Toulon in the middle of all this? First, at the start of the season, it was only a question of a "simple" qualification, to play a play-off (at home if possible). Except that the victories followed one another and, in the heart of winter, the Toulonnais started to talk about an "internal objective", which finally became a "top 2 objective" at the beginning of March. Because appetite comes with eating? Except that, launched in the middle of the race for second place with Bordeaux (Toulouse took a very clear option on the first), the RCT seemed ideally positioned, in the skin of the hunter... until Saturday, when it shot itself in the foot by losing on the pitch of Vannes, the bottom of the championship. A defeat by zero points, which seemed to make this top 2 objective illusory.

The miracle of Chaban-Delmas

And Pierre Mignoni and Esteban Abadie, both fatalistic in their press conferences, decided to banish second place from their vocabulary. "Today, there's no point in talking about a top two. We need to shut our mouths, work hard, and act," the international flanker dismissed.

Except that at the time the Toulon manager and his back row spoke, Bordeaux had a game in hand and could have put RCT within 6 or 7 points of the overall standings. A gap that would be almost impossible to bridge with four matches remaining in the season.

But a miracle occurred a little later on Saturday evening when Stade Rochelais, despite having been ill for many months, pulled off a feat and overturned Bordeaux at Chaban-Delmas. A zero-point defeat for the Girondins, and now Toulon, who thought they had fallen behind in the race for second place three hours earlier, ultimately maintained their slight two-point deficit over UBB.

As if the defeat in Vannes had no consequences, at least in terms of numbers. So, two points away from a direct qualification for the semi-finals, and while hosting UBB in the ^25th and penultimate matchday, can RCT really write off the top 2, as the dressing room suggested on Saturday after Vannes? Obviously not.

The last five champions have done so by avoiding the play-offs.

And after the disappointment of the blow received in Brittany, Toulon must remobilize at all costs. Qualifying directly for the semi-finals means gaining an extra week of rest and (above all) avoiding a very perilous passage through the play-offs. Precious? As proof: the last five French champions have been so by avoiding this life-or-death match.

So this setback, as disappointing as it may be, must be digested quickly because it would be cruel for the Toulonnais if it called into question all the (very good) work undertaken since August, which today allows the RCT to be more alive than ever in this race for the top 2.

On the other hand, this match in Vannes must not be forgotten. And, quite the contrary, it must allow the Toulonnais to rediscover the taste of blood that the group had in its mouth until then… But that's good, it seems that Toulon is never as strong as when it is an outsider. In 2014, it was a humiliation at Mayol in early January against Grenoble who had built a historic double six months later. So, why not dream that the Breton slap will be the genesis of an epic in a few weeks? In any case, rather than moping about their fate, it is now up to the Toulonnais to turn this defeat in Vannes into an immeasurable strength for the end of the season.