There is a certain serenity that we didn’t have before.
On the set of our show CLe Sport before the start of the season you said that with 15 points on the first block you would be very happy. With 14, are you satisfied?
Didier Pitcho. Yes of course. It’s not beyond my expectations, but of course I’m satisfied. I said 15 points as a joke, but I knew that we could have five victories or five defeats. So that’s a good total.
Keeping the same pace would mean taking 17 points in the next block of six matches which begins Friday in Chanzy against Provence. Would that be correct?
I think I’m going to make the same prediction, hoping there too to be wrong by one point more or less. We showed fragility at home and what we have on the program is tough, even away from home (1). (He thinks) Three times four, twelve… I make the same prediction, fifteen points.
The paradox of this start of the season is that you are imperial away with three victories but still empty-handed at Chanzy with two defeats. This is an unprecedented situation and it requires redress from Friday?
We all agree on that. On the other hand, Provence is one of the three or four big clubs. And then I think we are at 30 or 35% of away victories, so from there… Gone are the days when it was enough to punch the opposing team two or three times to win at home.
There, what’s more, we are at the start of the block. Look at the team that Brive fielded against us and the one they fielded in Nevers eight days later, it’s not the same. There is a management of people which means that.
One of the positive points of this start to the season is that we have the impression that you have never had such a dense and quality squad. Shared opinion?
Exactly. I’m not far from thinking that we have two teams. We have more than thirty interchangeable players. If you had to make your team for the final tomorrow, you will hesitate between at least 26-27 players.
Which was the objective in building your workforce.
That’s it. Do not create super players, even if we have them because we knew how to negotiate well, but build a dense squad where everyone responds. And then when you’re on the sheet, you better prove that you want to stay there.
On the other hand, we have the feeling that the Pro D2 has never been so dense and of such quality. Shared opinion?
There is no doubt. Try to imagine the squad we have today when we started eight years ago, we would have beaten everyone. This Pro D2 is progressing very quickly, and you are not safe from picking up a zero point and falling into line at full speed. Montauban last year was fifth at the break (Editor’s note. The Montalbanais finished fifteenth and held on in the play-off against Narbonne).
A grain of sand happened quickly. We all experience a slump at some point, so as late as possible it allows you to get a head start and reassure yourself. You don’t play in the same conditions when you absolutely need points, it’s not easy. Even if we have proven in the past that we know how to do it. When we had to take a point in Oyonnax we knew how to get it (Editor’s note. During the last day of the 2022/2023 season).
And you proved it again at the end of last season by finishing like a cannonball.
Yes. Me, I’m amazed. Before, you went around saying to yourself that if we could take a point… And even if at home we lost two matches, there is a certain serenity that we didn’t have before. We were saying to ourselves how are we going to get out of this? There, even if we messed up completely against Mont-de-Marsan, we have the impression that we can play the game all the time.
(1) Receptions in Provence, Biarritz and Agen, trips to Colomiers, Béziers and Grenoble.
The press conference Thursday at 12 p.m.
The traditional SA XV pre-match press conference will take place this Thursday, October 10 at 12 p.m., on the eve of the Provence Rugby reception. Forwards coach Tanguy Kerdrain and center three-quarter George Tilsley are announced. Follow live video from Chanzy on the Charente Libre website and Facebook page.
