Béziers was a special match, where you don’t exist, then you come back to 20 everywhere before collapsing?
Yes, it’s a shame to be down by 17 points. Afterwards it’s not easy and we still managed to come back and get back to 20-20. But we collapsed at the end of the match. There you go, I think there was room to bring something else, but we have to be consistent over 80 minutes.
What lesson should we learn?
Without ammunition on the conquest, I’m not talking about the melee, but without several ammunition on target, it’s hard to develop the game and impose your game. Especially outside. But like at home. But to put the opponent in difficulty and score points, whether through kicks or tries, you have to be clean on the conquests and be consistent for 80 minutes. Hold the ball, be efficient. I think that even though we lost a lot of balls, we still managed to move the ball in sequence, to do things that we couldn’t do in previous matches. So we will have to put all the ingredients together so that we are in place and above all effective.
How can we explain this difficulty of playing a full match?
I think we need to be able to take care of our starts. Since the Brive match, we haven’t had a good start. We get into trouble and are often led. In Brive we were behind, we managed to come back but we left with 0 points. Well, Angoulême, we are 20 points behind. There (in Béziers) we are still behind, it’s not possible, it’s too hard afterward we fight to come back but we’re cracking and so we have to take care of the starts. I think that’s how it should work. Especially Friday in front of our supporters, that will be essential, and having a good match, and being consistent throughout.
Is it the excess of energy to get back to the score that is too important?
Yes, there is a riot of energy because when you are down by 17 points, you try things that perhaps you would not try if you are neck and neck. And that also leads to fault sometimes. Then you can get countered. So we have to avoid being behind and especially by 17 or 20 points, that’s not possible in a match, whether at home or away, we can’t afford to be that much behind.
What kind of match do you expect against Oyonnax?
It’s going to be a tough, tough match. They’re a Top 14 team, they’re out of place in my opinion. They come from the Top 14, they are good in all lines so it will be a tough match but a big rugby match. And before the break, they will come to win and we need this victory.
Sébastien Tillous-Bordes said of Oyonnax that they were going to wake up.
Of course, it’s done. But we knew they were going to wake up, it was inevitable with the quality of their players and their squad. And they scored 50 points at home, they brought in some quality guys. So they have a squad, perhaps not the same as in the Top 14, but which is very similar so it will be very hard.
We often talk about the atmosphere which is good, obviously when we win, that was the case at the start of the season. With these 3 consecutive defeats, how are things going in the group?
Yes, yes, that remains. We focus on each week, on working, fixing what is wrong. On the details for the next match, we are making the effort on that. So there you have it, we continue to work as we have been doing since the beginning of July, we have not changed our approach. We stick to what we were doing and what worked at the start of the championship. We lost 3 games, we continue to work and we want to find victory again and especially at home in front of our supporters.
Back then opener, Baptiste, do you take as much pleasure in this position of number 10?
Yes yes, and as long as I’m on the pitch, I’m happy. It’s been a while now since I last played 10, so I’m also happy to be able to play in this position again. It’s, great. And for me, as soon as I’m on the pitch, whether it’s in 10 or 15 or even during the match, whether I alternate 10 or 15, it suits me, so there’s no problem with that.
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