“We are still the best defense, by far”: in terms of stats, why is it so difficult to break through the Columérine defense?

During the 2025 off-season, the new Colomiers staff, played by the Florian Nicot-Aurélien Béco duo, made defense the foundation of its game project. Very quickly, its expectations were largely met, with committed, connected and efficient players. At the end of the regular phase, Colomiers, although far from Vannes’ record (21 points ahead in the standings), can indeed boast of having the best defense in the championship, whether by points (522, or 17.4 per match) or by tries (60, or 2 per match). To extend the comparison, Vannes, having lost four fewer games, conceded 21 points and 7 more tries in total. “I repeat, it is an extremely strong foundation of our team, Florian Nicot was proud, mid-season. We are still the best defense, by far. This testifies to our state of mind and our work in this sector.” Let us add, to reinforce this observation, the 93 crossings suffered (3.1 per match), the best record, far ahead of Dax (107) and Oyonnax (110).

Plataret best tackler in the division

Three months later, just before the clash for second place in Aix, the expert on the subject Luka Plataret was in the same direction: “When we decide to, we also have a very strong defense.” The third wing line (1.84 m, 105 kg) can intervene well on the subject. He is none other than the best tackler in the division, with 375 successful tackles (individual and assist). The Ardèche is thus ahead of the Aixois Tornike Jalagonia (361) and the Drômois Louis Suaud (357). Above all, Luka Plataret particularly distinguished himself against Dax on April 3 (66-21): “I made 30 in Nevers, but 34 tackles is a first!” For him, but also for the club, where it was a record, and in the championship too. We have to go back to May 2025 to find such statistics, with Kévin Lebreton (35). Our partner AIA Sports précise : “If we look at the individual tackles (not tackle assistant), Luka Plataret has easily the best performance since 2022, with 29. For comparison, Jean-Maurice Decubber is second with 26, and he had 24 in his match with 43 successful tackles.

As in other clubs, the best tackler of the last meeting receives an honorary title, expressed orally in the presence of the group. “It remains a goal, I admit”smiles Plataret, who admits having received it “several times”. This superpower will not be superfluous when moving towards this very tough semi-final…