The Toulouse captain reiterated his incomprehension about the formula of the competition. Ugo Mola regretted the long journey to South Africa having caused “quite a few flu-like illnesses and stomach problems” to his players.
“We don’t understand much about it”said Antoine Dupont on Friday about the functioning of the Champions Cup, two days before the last match of the group stage at Stade Toulousain, against Leicester.
“The group matches of this Champions Cup are extremely important for the future, when we see the impact that the ranking can have on the fact of receiving (during) the final stages, even if we don't understand much about it. the way teams are ranked”declared the scrum-half at a press conference.
“We have difficulty finding logic, but we are obliged to comply with it”
“We have difficulty finding logic, but we are obliged to comply with it”he estimated, while Toulouse could finish in second place in their group if they do not do better than UBB, opposed to the South African Sharks. A second place would earn the reigning champions a place in the round of 16, but a move to the quarter-finals.
“We have no power over that, we try to concentrate on ourselves, to be the best possible but it's true that we have difficulty seeing clearly about this competition and I think that we are not the only onesnoted Antoine Dupont.
Before hosting Leicester on Sunday, Toulouse are second (14 points), one point behind UBB (15 pts), after letting the offensive bonus point slip away during a grueling victory in Durban last week (20-8). ).
-“We travel one day, three planes, to play 80 minutes, the same on the way back to go home, we are not the first to have done it but what does it lead to? That's really the question I'm asking. »
Thomas Ramos
A match played under the South African heat and humidity at the heart of an unprecedented journey for the Toulouse residents, not really to the taste of full-back Thomas Ramos: “We travel one day, three planes, to play 80 minutes, the same on the way back to go home, we are not the first to have done it but what does it lead to? That’s really the question I’m asking.”
“They are thinking a lot at the moment about protecting the players, but are we protecting the players with trips like that? I don't know”he asked himself.
“Flu-like conditions and gastric problems”
Returning to Toulouse on Monday, the French champions experienced “quite a few flu-like illnesses, gastric problems”according to their trainer Ugo Mola. “We had a bit of a series of problems but neither more nor less than what the others experienced, except that when you experience it yourself, you find it very painful”.
