Little by little, AS Monaco Rugby has become stronger and stronger over the years. As proof, Luciano Orquera and Sylvain Masson’s men have just punched their ticket for the Federal 3 level.
With three games left to finish the season, perhaps the title of champion will be donned on the Monegasque rugby side. Regardless, AS Monaco rugby has already ensured its accession to Federal 3 next season. A ticket for the fifth rugby division punched after the victory away at Fos-Istres (13-40) on Sunday, March 10th. The icing on the cake, the Monegasques return from this short trip with an offensive bonus point.
The come up: an early season goal coming to fruition
The ASMR is now second in the honorary division. The defeat of the SMUC to Sisteron (15-12) knocked their main competitor to 15 points from their tail. A good omen in a championship where only the first two places qualify for the higher echelon. Save some strange cataclysm, we do not see how Luciano Orquera and Sylvain Masson’s men will not qualify for the higher division next season. An ascension that was the standing objective at the beginning of this season.
But with 12 wins (including eleven with the offensive bonus!) and only three losses, the season is already a remarkable one. The ASM boasts the best attack in the championship with 598 points scored and the best defense with 148 points conceded.
The team still has to play the territorial final on April 20th, then the finals of the championship of France. Both are satisfactions that the president of ASM Rugby, the former professional rugby player Thomas Riqué, related gleefully to the press: “I am a happy president. For the boys, because they deserve it, but also for the whole club because it is an unprecedented step forward. This rewards all the work generated by the club in recent years. With structuring, a little success and a lot of work from the club’s volunteers, we reach the Federal 3 which will be a big turn for the Monegasque institution.”
In fact, the road was long for Monegasques, who started in the fourth division eight years ago when a group of friends led by Thomas Riquet, took over a club that was dormant at the time. An ambitious project in a principality where rugby remains in the shadow of football and basketball. The sport, nevertheless, has strong support from Princess Charlene, originally from South Africa. Last year, Prince Albert’s wife sponsored the World Rugby Awards, which brought the best players in the world to the Rock.
*Article originally published on the French edition of the Monaco Tribune.