At a press conference, the Provençal opener expressed all his pride after the improved success obtained against Oyonnax (38-3), while his team had a delicate start to the season.
How do you feel after this almost perfect score?
The truth is that we were scared before the match. We were able to focus on simple things this week. We wanted to highlight the basics of rugby: conquest, pressure on the rucks, and finally, having fun together. But having fun doesn’t mean doing anything… During this meeting, we managed to find each other, because we won the ruck war. Tonight, everything was good, but not perfect. The start of the season remains sluggish. In truth, if we had put this intensity into all the matches, especially in the rucks, it would not have been the same. I’m discovering this championship, but Pro D2 remains a fight. We arrived with great determination, with the desire to win all the duels.
You said you were scared. Can you specify? What happened this week?
Everyone saw us losing this meeting. It was already a life and death match, even though we were on the 5th day of the season… But yes, we felt a form of pressure to win at home against a team that had nothing to lose . Oyonnax had everything to gain by coming here. We were scared, but the group got closer this week, at the right time. We made the effort for each other, and the performance followed.
Offensively, we reviewed last year’s team…
It was better because we got the ball out quickly. This is reality. If the balls are slow, it’s complicated to find automatisms. Our team produces ambitious rugby. We have always wanted to produce beautiful rugby, to have fun but also to give it to the spectators and to you, the journalists. But for that, you need great determination in the rucks. In this meeting, we had greater determination than the team opposite.
Can we talk about a benchmark match, despite a slightly more sluggish first period?
Yes, it’s a benchmark match for our team. We were good at winning, good at rucks. We passed each other, we gained speed. We defended well, we didn’t take any attempts. That too is important. You must not lie to yourself. The results at home were sluggish in the first two outings. There is one thing we must tell ourselves: we are our enemy. If we don’t put things in place, we punish ourselves. Today, we wanted to grow, and play like a team that aspires to be at the top of the rankings. In the first matches, we looked at each other and we didn’t really know where we were going. For the first period, I don’t really agree with you (smile)…
We listen to you…
We don’t get paid in the first period. I think we can have a slightly bigger lead. I remember two winning shots from five meters that we couldn’t finish. But, at half-time, the team is calm. On the pitch, we see the faces of the guys in front of us.
And what did you see in these opposing faces?
We could see that Oyonnax was making waves. They defended almost the entire first period. We tired the guys before finding the spaces. Oyonnax has a defined game, where he uses the kicking game a lot. We knew that if we took the score, things would get better and better for us. When we returned from the locker room, we had five difficult minutes where we were penalized in the rucks. Apart from that, we built our match.
What conclusions do you draw from this first block?
He is positive on the accounting aspect. We are in the nails. I don’t know ProD2, but I was told that the first blocks were the most difficult. We also had a pretty difficult block with some great teams facing us. Now we have 14 points. It’s positive. Now we have to repeat these performances, especially at home. Now it’s up to us. Against Montauban, we conceded points for our mistakes, it was the same thing against Agen. These matches could have been different if we had been more efficient in the game but also on the rucks. Now, we have to want to achieve these performances every week, and above all to build our matches in the same way.
: “We were scared, but the group came together at the right time”){kind=link}