Castres to draw strength from Raisuqe death
ROUND 24 PREVIEW: Castres travel to Bordeaux-Begles in the French Top 14 on Saturday in their first game since the tragic death of Fijian Josaia Raisuqe.
Raisuqe, who turned 30 in July, was killed last Thursday after being hit by a train while driving to training.
The Paris 2024 silver medallist joined Castres four years ago before becoming a popular squad member.
“What happened will be with us every day, we have to use it as motivation,” Castres captain Mathieu Babillot told reporters.
“It’s something that needs to bring us together, as he did, he brought the team together,” the five-times capped French flank added.
Raisuqe, who could feature at flank, wing and centre, had played only seven games this term and was set to join ambitious second-tier club Brive next season.
“It’s not normal what we’ve experienced,” Castres head coach Xavier Sadourny said.
“You lose your parents, grandparents, you don’t lose a friend who is the same age as you, or even younger.
“It will remain a strange moment for us, which will remain with us until the end of the season and for years to come,” he added.
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‘Focus’
Raisuqe was part of a sizeable Fijian community at the five-time former French champions alongside lock Leone Nakarawa as well as centres Vilimoni Botitu and Adrea Cocagi.
“For them it’s strange,” flank Babillot said.
“They’re experiencing it differently to the other players, they have other traditions, other ways of doing things.
“We try and communicate with one another, to be there for your teammates,” he added.
This weekend’s game at Stade Chaban-Delmas comes a week before the hosts play Northampton in their first Champions Cup Final.
Bordeaux-Begles are second in the table having lost just twice at home this season with Castres in fifth, eyeing a play-off spot.
“We’ve got a big away trip in front of us,” Babillot said.
“I think things have been managed well by the club and the team.
“When we’re on the field, we’re focused on rugby, and when we’re off it we try to feel as good as possible.
“We will use Josh’s life to go as far as possible in the competition,” he added.
Elsewhere, Raisuqe’s first club in France, Stade Francais, find themselves in a relegation fight with Vannes and Perpignan.
The three sides, who are separated by just four points with three games to play, are desperately scrabbling to avoid bottom spot, currently occupied by Vannes, which signals automatic relegation.
The team finishing thirteenth will face a play-off against the second division runners-up. That space is held by the once-mighty Stade Francais, who host a Lyon side which is equally fired up at the other end of the table, sitting just three points outside the top six.
Vannes head to fourth-placed Bayonne while Perpignan travel to Clermont in a throw-back to the heady days of 2009 and 2010 when they met in consecutive finals.
