Suddenly, we looked in the stands of Ernest-Wallon if we could not see Rassie Erasmus in the stands. It is that, like the South African coach with his “bomb squad” in 2023, and in particular during the World Cup won by his troops, Ronan O’Gara brought in all his substitutes at once in front just after the break of the shock won by Toulouse (35-27) this Sunday.
With players of the caliber of Will Skelton, Pierre Bourgarit, Paul Boudehent, Ultan Dillane, not to mention the very promising youngsters Aleksandre Kuntelia and Louis Keziah Penverne, the impact was immediate, with 10 points scored in less than twenty minutes. That was the goal. Because if the initial pack was rather mobile and playful and its replacement of the very solid type, the staff had not a priori planned to bring the latter in from the 41st minute of play. If he did, it was to get his team out of a certain lethargy in the fight.
Meetings to be planned
“When they came back in the second half, they brought a totally different intensity,” said Toulouse’s Thomas Ramos. “I think we’re going to spend a few meetings watching [le début de match]grumbles the captain of La Rochelle Grégory Alldritt. First of all, there is a lack of commitment on all the collisions, I have a lot of respect for Toulouse but I think they win their duels too easily. Then, on easy things, like leaving our camp, we complicate things a little bit. “
“When we do things well and everyone does their job, when no one forgets themselves, we can be dominant.”
“When we do things well and everyone does their job, when no one forgets themselves, we still manage to be dominant up front. Unfortunately, it’s not often enough, tackles the Gersois again. What was planned was to have a big bench with 6 forwards to bring impact. They did their job, they really did us good. It brings confidence when they come on, because they are great players but, frankly, we have quality on the pitch in the first half, that’s not the question. It’s not about saying that those on the bench are better, but we got shaken up a little at half-time, so the commitment changed…”
Indeed, in the first half, it was the Haut-Garonne forwards who imposed the tempo. Far from the last semi-final between the two teams, which saw the superior Maritimes in conquest, particularly on the carried balls. “But who said that our strong points were not the scrum, the lineout? We have a big pack of forwards, quite simply”, Ramos gets annoyed when we mention the fact that the situation was different.
The people of Toulouse are upset
“When you sting guys, they inevitably want to respond. After hearing so much that they’re not strong enough up front, I can tell you that when you walk past them in the locker room, you don’t want to take them out of the buffet,” he snaps in response, in particular, to criticisms made by former hooker Vincent Moscato on his radio show. I think our pack, no matter who’s on the pitch, deserves a little more respect, and they proved it tonight.”
“It’s certainly never nice to hear things like that, but in any case, we knew that if we wanted to win, it would require a big challenge up front. We rose to it, even if we conceded a try after a ball carried, we managed to contain them well, underlines François Cross. I’m not going to say that we had revenge to take up front on the quality of our play since the semi-final, but it’s certain that we wanted to show a better face. Tonight (Sunday), we showed a more satisfactory conquest.”
La Rochelle too, therefore, in the second half, even if the end of the match was more complicated. “We needed a reaction. It happened but we are frustrated because we repeated all week that we had to play eighty minutes, that was not the case, regrets Sébastien Boboul. But even when we go back in front (25-27 in the 57th, Editor’s note), we are under pressure again at home without managing to get out, and they score almost every time. When we managed to get some speed, with quick releases, we saw that we were capable of doing good things. But it is not enough to hope to win here.” There is no shortage of areas to work on but it is not bad news, while there are 24 Top 14 matches left to progress.
