Ahead of the Barthés Trophy repechage match between Senegal and Ivory Coast, Jacques BASSENE, National Technical Director of the Senegalese Rugby Federation, answered our questions.

Have you already met the Ivory Coast U20 team, when, during which meeting and what lessons do you draw from it for this match?
Yes, we have already met and beaten Ivory Coast in 2015 from memory.
We know they are a strong team with a good pack, we have prepared our game plan accordingly.

The match will take place in the stadium of Thies, why did you make this choice and not to have organized the match in Dakar?
The choice of Thies for the match is guided by the desire to relocate rugby in the regions, we have rugby fans everywhere so it is important that rugby comes to them. Logistically, it was also easier to play in Thiès and to accommodate all the delegations right in front of the Lat Dior stadium, which avoids unnecessary travel and is more ecological.

Does Senegal put a lot of hope in its young U20 players, do they promise good future years for Senegalese rugby?
We are putting a lot of hope and means on these young players, we have a great generation and we hope to redeem ourselves after the bad outings during the last Barthés tournament in which we took part in Kenya.
With this generation and those that are coming, we hope to play the leading roles in African rugby and make a good participation in the 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

This repechage match will take place on 28 January 2023 at 4pm (local time) in Thiès – Senegal. It will not be broadcast but the score will be available live on our official channels:  Twitter, Facebook.