Rugby: Geneva feast on crumbs to win league

"Difficult," is how coach, Olivier Achaintre, of Geneva Plan-les-Ouates described Saturday’s 16-11 victory against Yverdon in the Swiss A League playoff final at the Stade des Cherpines.

"But with great discipline, mastery and especially solidarity which made us very strong in defence because there were large parts of the game which they dominated and enjoyed most of the possession but we didn’t crack," Achaintre expanded subsequently.

"Yverdon were better than I thought. They were more organized and more experimental at times."

A tough first half was marked by Yverdon’s inability to transform possession and attacking threats into points, while Geneva gratefully accepted what few crumbs came their way to lead 6-3, grace of a drop goal (Jean-Baptiste Ricarte) and penalty (Ashley Mills) to one penalty (Loic Reffet).

"It hurts because we deserved to win the match," said Yverdon coach, Marcelo Raul Gauna. "We had opportunities to score but always missed the final pass or kick. Perhaps we were too eager, or perhaps we made the wrong choices?"

Early in the second half, Yverdon’s domination up front finally paid off with a try scored by winger Azad Saadi in the 58th minute, but one which they failed to convert. Still they led 8-6.

It was not to last however, as once again, Geneva capitalized on one of their few chances. "We won a scrum against the head, and number 12, Celien Mundler, scored from an overlap from a nice attack," is how Achaintre put it.

Gauna blamed "a missed tackle – a bad mistake" for what proved to be the game’s defining moment, after which Ashley Mills popped over the conversion to make the score 13-8 and add to his early penalty.

"We didn’t waste anything and scored practically every time we had a chance," said Achaintre.

Although Yverdon scrambled a penalty back, that was it for the visitors and Mills rubbed in another three-points worth of salt with five minutes to go to put the final further out of reach.

"We played the last 10 minutes in their camp, they were tired and in the end it was them who cracked," added Achaintre.

"It was very tight. We missed our chances when we had the upper hand and they were perhaps more effective on the day," summed up Gauna.

Unlike some teams over the weekend, Yverdon had no contention with the match referee Christophe Secat who had a "very good game". The result "was down to us", admitted Gauna generously.

Winning skipper, Sébastien Fourot called the final "competitive but correct, where fair-play reigned".

Achaintre’s one regret – that the match was "not a spectacle" for the 300 or so fans that turned up – illustrates his fundamental philosophy of attacking rugby, one which he intends to pursue next season.

"We are very happy, because three titles [in four years] is not easy. But now we have to get serious, restructure the club and develop rugby throughout the region. We have a lot of work to do because rugby is a great sport," he told Swisster.

Meanwhile, in the B League playoff final, Avusy once again returned to their more unsavory methods. According to reports, the Geneva team started a punch-up when leading Fribourg 12-0 and the game had to be called off.