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I feel compelled to drop a few words. After 2023-24's season i had mixed feelings. The end of an era was on sight. We won the league but lost the cup. Moneta injured himself in HK and the impact on the rest of the team was obvious. But the OGs were up ahead, with (what it seemed at the time) enough time for Moneta to recover, AND with a tremendous roster. Moneta, Isgro and Gonzalez would have all easily made it to the circuit's team. The rest of the team had a strange combination of grit, hunger and experience that is only found by chance. The coach had a plan and this time he had the players to execute in. In spades. Isgro and Revol had announced that they would retire from svns (one due to age, the other moving to XVs), which is generally a bittersweet thing but adds to the lets-do-it-one-last-time effect. So on paper, it looked as if everything was aligned for us to reach Paris' games at our peak. That didnt work out. We lost two games we should have won and that cost us dearly. Could have, should have, would have... the excuses losers like to resort to.

I sincerely thought we had lost our shot. I expected the team to be competitive, and able to beat anyone on a good day, but not like this. What these guys have been doing, and how they've been doing it is simply out of this world. They have obliterated everything that has been put on their path. I watched the final and noticed that the guys were, understandably, very, very nervous. Schulz in particular had a nightmare of a 1H. Gave away like 3 penalties, lost the ball, conceded a turnover... all in just 7 minutes. But the guys had a plan, stuck to it, and it worked. The final score was 12-5, but i find a bit misleading in terms of how close it was, as France's score came 5 secs before the final whistle. Just as a benchmark, France beat Fiji 24-17 in the last minute of the Semi final. Arg beat Fiji 35-5 in the group stages.

They've won the last three tourneys of the series (Perth, Vancouver, HK) and are heading to SGP with a 12 point lead.

I couldnt be prouder. And last, but most certainly not least, kudos to Gomez Cora (head coach), the genius behind all of this.

<blockquote data-quote="Cruz_del_Sur" data-source="post: 1223228" data-attributes="member: 55747">I feel compelled to drop a few words. After 2023-24&#039;s season i had mixed feelings. The end of an era was on sight. We won the league but lost the cup. Moneta injured himself in HK and the impact on the rest of the team was obvious. But the OGs were up ahead, with (what it seemed at the time) enough time for Moneta to recover, AND with a tremendous roster. Moneta, Isgro and Gonzalez would have all easily made it to the circuit&#039;s team. The rest of the team had a strange combination of grit, hunger and experience that is only found by chance. The coach had a plan and this time he had the players to execute in. In spades. Isgro and Revol had announced that they would retire from svns (one due to age, the other moving to XVs), which is generally a bittersweet thing but adds to the lets-do-it-one-last-time effect. So on paper, it looked as if everything was aligned for us to reach Paris&#039; games at our peak. That didnt work out. We lost two games we should have won and that cost us dearly. Could have, should have, would have... the excuses losers like to resort to. I sincerely thought we had lost our shot. I expected the team to be competitive, and able to beat anyone on a good day, but not like this. What these guys have been doing, and how they&#039;ve been doing it is simply out of this world. They have obliterated everything that has been put on their path. I watched the final and noticed that the guys were, understandably, very, very nervous. Schulz in particular had a nightmare of a 1H. Gave away like 3 penalties, lost the ball, conceded a turnover... all in just 7 minutes. But the guys had a plan, stuck to it, and it worked. The final score was 12-5, but i find a bit misleading in terms of how close it was, as France&#039;s score came 5 secs before the final whistle. Just as a benchmark, France beat Fiji 24-17 in the last minute of the Semi final. Arg beat Fiji 35-5 in the group stages. They&#039;ve won the last three tourneys of the series (Perth, Vancouver, HK) and are heading to SGP with a 12 point lead. I couldnt be prouder. And last, but most certainly not least, kudos to Gomez Cora (head coach), the genius behind all of this.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cruz_del_Sur, post: 1223228, member: 55747"] I feel compelled to drop a few words. After 2023-24's season i had mixed feelings. The end of an era was on sight. We won the league but lost the cup. Moneta injured himself in HK and the impact on the rest of the team was obvious. But the OGs were up ahead, with (what it seemed at the time) enough time for Moneta to recover, AND with a tremendous roster. Moneta, Isgro and Gonzalez would have all easily made it to the circuit's team. The rest of the team had a strange combination of grit, hunger and experience that is only found by chance. The coach had a plan and this time he had the players to execute in. In spades. Isgro and Revol had announced that they would retire from svns (one due to age, the other moving to XVs), which is generally a bittersweet thing but adds to the lets-do-it-one-last-time effect. So on paper, it looked as if everything was aligned for us to reach Paris' games at our peak. That didnt work out. We lost two games we should have won and that cost us dearly. Could have, should have, would have... the excuses losers like to resort to. I sincerely thought we had lost our shot. I expected the team to be competitive, and able to beat anyone on a good day, but not like this. What these guys have been doing, and how they've been doing it is simply out of this world. They have obliterated everything that has been put on their path. I watched the final and noticed that the guys were, understandably, very, very nervous. Schulz in particular had a nightmare of a 1H. Gave away like 3 penalties, lost the ball, conceded a turnover... all in just 7 minutes. But the guys had a plan, stuck to it, and it worked. The final score was 12-5, but i find a bit misleading in terms of how close it was, as France's score came 5 secs before the final whistle. Just as a benchmark, France beat Fiji 24-17 in the last minute of the Semi final. Arg beat Fiji 35-5 in the group stages. They've won the last three tourneys of the series (Perth, Vancouver, HK) and are heading to SGP with a 12 point lead. I couldnt be prouder. And last, but most certainly not least, kudos to Gomez Cora (head coach), the genius behind all of this. [/QUOTE]