How can you do better than perfect? This is the question that the Rouge et Or women’s rugby team at Laval University will try to answer.
Results: 11 wins, no losses, 605 points scored, 66 allowed.
With these extraordinary statistics, the 2022 edition of the Rouge et Or wrote not only the history of Quebec rugby, but also of Canadian university sport.
“It’s certain that it comes with a certain pressure to perform,” said captain Laurence Chabot at the start of the season. Everyone is watching us and people are waiting to see if we will be able to repeat the same feats. »
The Quebec team made it all the way in the fall, winning top honors at the Canadian championship. During this tournament, played in Victoria, British Columbia, Audrey Champagne stood out. Injured for the majority of the “regular” season, the 24-year-old was in all the fights in the playoffs. She earned the title of Most Outstanding Player of the Canadian Championship.
Champagne doesn’t want to talk about “pressure” when it comes to expectations for the new season. On the contrary, the personal and collective successes of the year 2022 will serve more as motivation.
Her teammate Adèle Samson goes even further: “Now our name is known all over Canada. We have something to defend. »
Indeed, beyond the titles and the banners, the Rouge et Or has no desire to remain in the annals as the team having collapsed or crushed after such a remarkable season.
Honor, because it is what prevails in the Rouge et Or locker room, must absolutely be defended.
In their first match, last week in Ottawa, the defending champions won 14-12. A close duel, tied at halftime, during which the Quebecois fell behind until the end of the match.
Their great Ontario rivals almost had their skin, but the players from Laval University came out on top in the most complicated duel of the calendar, on paper.
However, no team, or even a formation that has reached perfection, is immune to defeat. Without necessarily thinking about this eventuality, the players remain lucid. Even if they haven’t lost a match in over a year, they will give up at some point.
“In any sport, an undefeated season is exceptional. This is extraordinary and we must not forget it. But just because you lose a match doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Our standard must not become a perfect season,” relaunches Laurence Chabot.
Adèle Samson, thanks to all the wisdom that her 22 years have given her, maintains that “sometimes it takes defeats to learn.”
Same story with Audrey Champagne: “The ultimate goal is to be Canadian champions and it’s not one or two defeats in the year that could make the difference. But in any case, we are well prepared and we don’t want to lose. »
College teams are in a perpetual cycle of starting over. Due to age and eligibility criteria, some players leave and others arrive. At the Rouge et Or, 5 of the 15 starters are not back this season. Marie-Pier Fauteux and Andréanne Valois, in particular, are among them.
The challenge will therefore be to keep the same identity, the same culture, even if part of the winning edition has been fragmented.
“We lost big chunks, but we lose chunks every year,” says Chabot. Our identity has always been through our team play. »
Even if, in terms of size and size, the team is diminished compared to certain rivals, the system and the patterns established several seasons ago make this group a unit to be feared.
These job openings nevertheless allow the youngest members of the group to finally have a chance to shine.
Samson, entering his third year, is one of them. “I don’t necessarily consider myself a veteran, since there are players who are older than me, but I will have to take advantage of this position to eventually be able to replace those who are going to leave us. »
This depth, Chabot thinks, “is also the strength of the program.”
The reality is that another perfect season is within the Rouge et Or’s reach. To achieve this, the players draw motivation from the fact that every link in the chain can be replaced, as Champagne explains: ” Everyone on the team has a role to play and anyone can take your place. »
And if the morale of the troops should one day be shaken, Samson believes, the solution will be found somewhere between the successes of the past and the conviction of still being at the top: “We just have to remember who we are. »