Christophe Laussucq, head of defense for Union Bordeaux-Bègles, agrees to give his take on the semi-final between Stade Toulouse and Harlequins, who eliminated his team in the previous round. And according to him, the English are far from starting favorites at the Stadium.
What lessons did you learn from your elimination against Harlequins in the quarter-final?
Really, I don’t know if it was them who surprised us, or if it was more the result of the weakness of our performance. That was the feeling of the staff after the match. How could we have been so bad in this match?
They didn’t surprise you, in short…
We had clearly identified their qualities. It is difficult to explain this poor performance, especially in sectors which we do not usually lack.
What did you know about this team, exactly?
We knew that offensively, it was a very strong team which also relied on big individuals. And we got through it in defense, in direct conquest… Whereas the scrum, usually, holds up pretty well. That day, we completely missed it. Our start to the match was very poor in terms of investment, commitment, and we let them take a big lead, too easily. This is why we were not surprised by their qualities, but were especially disappointed with our performance.
Indeed, it is difficult to blame Maxime Lucu for this failed transformation in the last moments…
We scored 41 points but it wasn’t 43 that we had to score, we especially had to not concede 42. We were catastrophic in many areas of the game. The truth is there, it’s not about the transformation of poor “Max” at the end. Besides, at the end in the locker room, no one blamed him. Everyone was aware that we were bad at scrum, in defense, and not effective enough offensively. We had identified Evans as a good scratcher, Esterhuizen as a penetrating force… We didn’t see ourselves looking good, but we were coming off a 50-point victory against Saracens who had scored 40 against the same Harlequins three weeks ago. Unconsciously… We made a mistake about the preparation.
In Bordeaux, this English team showed a lot of character…
Our start was completely botched and despite everything we got back into the race, we scored a lot of points. We still challenged them, created a large number of chances… We thought they were going to break but we continued to make mistakes. We even take a test on a camp exit, ten minutes from the end, which allows them to get back in front. The whole match was just a succession of errors, lack of commitment and that gave them hope.
Should Toulouse restrict the game to constrain these Harlequins from Marcus Smith?
No, I do not think so. Because Harlequins are good offensively, but still have great weaknesses. Their front 5 moves little and defensively there are gaps. The Toulouse residents played them and beat them by scoring 40 points at home! By being rigorous in conquest and defense, the Toulouse residents will win easily. But it’s definitely not about trying to play less.
Wouldn’t an open game appearance be an asset for the English?
On the contrary ! By being vigilant and precise on conservation, because they remain a good counter team, the Toulouse team, if they are rigorous where we have not been, will pass easily in my opinion. Offensively, they are very difficult to stop. And facing a relatively weak defense, I think they will find the flaws quickly.
You seem confident for your compatriots from Haut-Garonne…
Just regard their results in the English championship: they concede a lot of points, it is not a very consistent team in these performances. Frankly, yes, I am confident for Toulouse. Then, I would say that it is a semi-final at home, and they are used to these meetings. In my opinion, they should not have any difficulty like us in scrum or defending ball carry for example. And I say it again, if they are even correct in this, they will win easily. As was the case in the pool.
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