Top 14 – Quentin Walcker (Castres): “Excited to play this match” against Bordeaux-Bègles

Saturday evening, with the Union Bordeaux-Bègles, it’s a big piece that arrives at Pierre-Fabre. In what state of mind will you approach this meeting?

We are aware that this is a turning point for us. We have a big match to play against a team that has a lot of confidence at the moment. We are excited to play this match, knowing the quality of play that UBB is capable of producing.

In the league, you lost against Clermont, then you suffered a heavy defeat at Northampton in the Champions Cup before winning against Munster. Have you regained confidence?

The Top 14 and the Champions Cup are two completely different competitions. Europe is another championship with another way of counting points. It’s no longer the same type of game, it has nothing to do with it. There, we return to the Top 14. We will have to readjust. We had a good performance last week, it’s good for our confidence but we’re starting with something else on Saturday. We are aware that Bordeaux is a very strong team. I think it’s above Munster. We need to be quite aware of that. Having beaten Munster should not give us enormous peace of mind. We must remain humble.

UBB is a team in full swing. We see that they have an enormous level….

Yes, they showed it again in the Champions Cup the last fortnight…

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Have you targeted phases of play in which this team is really superior?

We’ll start by focusing on ourselves. Afterwards, we know that Bordeaux has a pretty incredible movement game behind them. When we look at the media, the newspapers and the weeks spent on the pitch, we see very clearly that there are very, very strong guys who are very dangerous. There is Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud, Moefana, Jalibert, Lucu. We can cite a lot of them. At the level of their three-quarters, it doesn’t matter who is playing. They are as dangerous as each other.

Xavier Sadourny arrived in the off-season as three-quarter coach and he put his stamp on the Castres game. Do you feel good in the new system?

This is a new game that has been modified this year. Our gaming system is still young. We have a lot to improve on, but we feel good about it. We trust the system and the principles. We start to find little markers and little signals that do us good. You don’t train 50 players overnight and say “we played this way, we’re going to play another way”. This is why we are quite patient. We see ourselves as demanding of ourselves, but we also give ourselves time. We are aware that this is quite new.

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How involved is a pillar in a team’s movement game?

Rugby is a game of movement. Once the ball is out of the scrum or the touchline, we are a rugby player, so we want to touch the ball. Xavier doesn’t care what position you hold, what number you have on your back. What he wants is to have intelligent players, to have efficient players. He has no preconceptions about the position.

How do you feel in Castres?

I feel very good. We found our balance, whether rugby or extra-rugby with my wife. It was important to me that my family felt good. The game currently advocated by the team corresponds to my way of seeing rugby.

You gain more and more playing time…

I had some physical problems last season and now I’m free of them, it feels really good. I want to flourish, to continue to contribute to the team. What warms my heart the most? When the team comes to pat me on the back and say: “Thank you” after a positive action, that’s nice!