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Cesson are looking for the first great win home

They played the best match in season last round beating Montpelier away and scoring 34 goals. A 208 cm tall line man Guillo played for the first time

Cesson are proving to be one of the most pleasant surprises despite being on the second smallest budget in the league. They also proved to be very unpredictable. After winning a point against Chambery in the first round, they beat Nîmes home, and then Montpellier! All that after losing two home games to PSG and Nantes with a combined goal difference of 19 goals. On top of that, coach Christmann couldn't count on Suty, Celice and Hochet, who were injured. He had ten players and two goalkeepers at his disposal. One of those 10 players is surely an attraction. He's a 208 cm tall line man, he wears glasses, and sports a weird hair style.  He is only 22 and he's only the third choice line man after Anic (pictured) and Lanfranchi, but his time to get on the court came and he scored once in his three attempts. 

Goalkeeper Genty was their hero again with 18 saves, while Benoit Dore scored 10 goals in 15 attempts. 

- We'll see how it goes with St. Raphaël. I don't think we're cursed when it comes to home games, maybe some players just feel more pressure home. We played Nantes and Paris who are both great teams. St. Raphaël is a test. We have to win for the fans, for the sponsors... - said line man Guillo.

- We opened the season well, but we're two points short of getting ahead of our main rivals. If would really be good if we beat St. Raphaël. But, winning against main rivals is crucial - said the best goalkeeper in the league Genty (75 saves).

- St. Raphaël are a team set up for playing European matches. They are under more pressure to beat teams like Cesson, but they are aware it's not easy winning in Rennes. Even more after they beat Montpellier away. They have the consistency and we struggle with it. The match will therefore be tough.

There's no information about the possibilty that some of he injured players start today, Celica and Suty are out for sure. Maybe wing Hochet makes it on the team today.

- I assign St. Raphaël the third position, after Paris and Montpellier. They beat us horribly in preseason (33-24). It's a good team and all the matches in the league are pretty tied - said coach Chrismann.

St. Raphaël failed only once so far. They lost to Pays Aix after gambling the win away. Their opponent's goalkeeper had more than 50% of saves in the second half. They had the chance to tie the match in the end, but failed to score. Dukanovic and Bonnefoi had 16 saves in the last match with Sélestat combined. It was 36-33 in the end. Olsen, league's leading scorer, scored 11 out of 15 shots (4/5 were seven meter throws). Arnor Atlason scored his first goal in the French league, after 0/8 record in the previous matches.

They haven't played the top teams yet, Cesson is only the warm up for the next week when they play PSG home. Nantes and Chambery will be visiting the south of France in the following five rounds as well. The real value of this team will surface then, but it's already obvious they are better than last year. Olsen, who joined and who is doing well, is among the reasons for it. As soon as Atlason catches up with him, and Barachet gets back next month, they will become a top level team. Coach Gaudin said Barachet will be ready for the match with PSG and even Onesta invited him for the next national team campaign after a 7-month recovery.

As for today, this match will be a clash between two different game styles. St. Raphaël will look to speed the match up, which is a problem for Cesson who can't afford to rotate as much. Defense is the key. It's probably even as good as St. Raphaël's but we have to see how they'll handle St. Raphaël's offense and Olsen. That offense is better than Montpellier's and that will decide the match because Cesson can hardly run as much as they then...

Cesson have shown two faces so far in the season, the playful and running in clashes against the teams that have a mighty offense. Against Chambery they played 30:30, they lost to PSG 41-27, and won against Montpellier 34-32. Against Nantes and Ivry we've seen matches under 50 goals, and those are defense teams. Today another offense-oriented team comes to Rennes, a team that with Morten Olsen plays very fast handball and my expectations go towards a match with 60 goals. Last season when St. Raphael was weaker, and Cesson with almost the same roster as today, it was 28-28 in Rennes, while Casson won the away match with 30-28.