Handball: Why does Saint-Raphaël travel so well in Starligue?

With a game in hand, Saint-Raphaël saw Toulouse steal fourth place, synonymous with Europe, from them. They will therefore have to keep up the pace in this race for European qualification, with the tricky trip to Tremblay this Saturday evening. However, like their victory at Créteil (31-39) during their last outing, Saint-Raphaël are rather comfortable away from home.

Since the start of the season, Johannes Marescot's teammates have been prolific on the road, sitting fourth in the "away match rankings," with eight wins in 12 matches (see the figure). Only the league's magic trio has done better than SRVHB. Nantes, for example, who are third in this season, have even had as many away wins as the Var team.

Once again, the team from the Archangel City fared better than its direct competitors for fourth place. While at home, JFK Palace isn't exactly an impregnable fortress: 6 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses.

So why do the Raphaëlois perform better away from home? "We perform well because we're aware that away from home, it's always more complicated. We have a different mindset," says Jonathan Mapu.

And he continues: " We're preparing differently, which is working in our favor for now. It's quite enjoyable. It's also a process of maturity. At the beginning, we had a little trouble finding ourselves and telling each other things. Only time could allow us to change that."

For the coach, several factors come into play. "Every match has its own story," recalls coach Benjamin Braux. "The difference between home and away results isn't very significant. There may also be what happens during the match, the current form..."

While in Starligue, teams tend to be more visible at home, this year SRVHB seems to have chosen a different approach, that of consistency regardless of the pitch, as evidenced by its record: 16 points away from home against 13. "We don't have points to recover, but points to win," comments the coach. "We know how many matches remain until the end of the season. We are masters of our destiny."

A win against the promoted team would therefore allow them to approach the reception of Nantes in the best possible conditions before turning to one of the "finals" for Europe at the end of the season, against Toulouse, in two weeks.