They were laughing, the Toulonnais, at the final whistle. They were kissing, the people of Toulon, in front of the traditional fireworks display which follows each last match of the calendar year at Mayol.
Finally, they screamed with happiness, these same Toulonnais, when they sang in chorus the song they sing with each success since the start of the season. “Ouh Ouh ahhhh, that’s Toulon! Ahh!”
Because yesterday, the teammates of bleeding David Ribbans overcame a courageous Section Pau to achieve their third improved success of the season. But above all, their sixth victory in a row.
Two in the Champions Cup which allows Toulon to be at the top of its group. Four in Top 14, which allows the RCT to consolidate its place on the podium. As if everything had been going well for two months on planet Toulon.
“If we want to be a great team…”
“It's a pleasure to be third after 12 days, but we don't have a short memory, and we know that everything can go very quickly, tempérait Matthias Halagahu. So it's great, you have to savor it, but above all don't think you've arrived. Everyone has to stay alert, even if it's nice to spend Christmas on the podium.”
Too reasonable are these Rouge et Noir, when today they seem to be the third power in the championship behind Bordeaux and Toulouse? Just see a group that has matured. Learned. And who, if he rightly savors this success against Pau, also knows that he still has enormous room for improvement. On discipline, for example, since the RCT still made 11 mistakes. Or on the ability to kill an opponent.
Because yesterday, if they grabbed the Béarnais by the jugular from the kick-off (24-10 at the 30e), the Var allowed the Section to return (24-20, 51e) upon returning from the locker room. An unexpected relaxation, which required us to work three times harder to get the bonus at the end of the match (four tries in 18 minutes).
“We were rushing, we wanted to score too quickly, even though we had announced during the week that we wanted to impose a more direct game. If we want to be a great team, we must respect the strategy from the start to the end of a matchexplained Matthias Halagahu. We really need to kill these matches. Against Glasgow we led by ten points and finally won through pain [30-29]. There, we still lead by fifteen points and we find ourselves fighting to secure victory. This is not normal.”
“I have chills”
However, if he will have to discipline himself on his strategy to avoid suspenseful endings to matches in the future, this RCT no longer seems to be in doubt. “A few years ago, this end of the match would have been much more complicated… But now, we have reached a level. We demonstrate it every week, we never give up, we dare to try things, to have fun. Guys have confidence in themselves, in the group, congratulated Maxime Petitjean. Toulon regains the state of mind and the place in which it should be. And we feel the audience pushing behind the group, it’s fabulous. From the bench, I get chills. So I can't imagine the players… The championship is still long, many teams will claim the top 6 and we still have to progress if we want to reach the very high level, excellence. But if we stay serious, I am convinced that we can have a nice season.”
Because if it remains imperfect, nothing seems to resist this RCT for two months. And as we move into New Year's Eve, the Toulonnais have placed an improved victory and a place on the podium under the tree of an entire city… Merry Christmas!
