Will the imports deliver another up year for the Royal?
March 7, 2019 by Ravi Vasudevan in News with 0 comments
The Montreal Royal are no strangers to signing international talent, and they’re back at it this season, signing six players from French champion Tchac.
Steve Bonneau and Quentin Bonnaud have already played with the Royal in previous seasons and both came up playing with Tchac before moving to Montreal. However, this year, they have brought four more Tchac stars into their ranks: 2017 European Youth Player of the Year Quentin Roger, All-Europe men’s player Matthieu Bosser, Sacha Poitte-Sokolsky, and Laurent Faye.
Tchac capped off a great 2018 season by finishing in the top eight at the World Ultimate Club Championships last year. Many of the players on this Tchac squad were also key in getting France a bronze medal at the World Championships of Beach Ultimate in 2017. The Montreal Royal in the AUDL have clearly taken notice of Tchac’s success.
Montreal has ambitions to make the playoffs in a very competitive Eastern division in the AUDL: adding this heavy contingent of French champions could bolster their chances as they look to improve on their 6-8 record from last year. While adding this talent may be good news for Montreal, it will mean that both Tchac and the French national teams, who will be competing in the European Ultimate Championships in July, will be significantly weaker than in previous iterations, as all of these players are focused on the AUDL season and will not be suiting up with either the French men’s or mixed squads at the EUC. It is unclear what implications this may have on the French national teams for the WUGC next year.
In addition to these departures, Eric Becker will also be playing with Tchac’s rival, Iznogood, this season, who look to be the French favorites this year with Tchac facing a down year.
