The Stade Toulouse forwards coach, Jean Bouilhou, spoke of his team's trip this Saturday to La Rochelle where many young players should be present on the match sheet and thus leave many executives to rest before a capital trip to South Africa during the third day of the Champions Cup.
What will be the objective of Stade Toulouse for this match in La Rochelle scheduled just before the club's first trip to South Africa?
The objective will be to practice away from home as we have been doing since the start of the season and I believe that we have always managed to bring home points. We will now be faced with a team with a different density. As always, the objective will be to exist outside and to put on a serious match in content and the result we will see. If the content is there, maybe there will be something for us.
With many young players on the scoresheet…
Obviously, it is a particular context which is a little unfavorable for us but we are used to rotating the squad against teams which are said to be better than us on paper. Each time, we can see that our so-called young players respond. Courage and commitment are expected of them. No less will be needed in La Rochelle, which is a stronghold of Rugby, particularly for the front players. It's also good to practice against a big team. I think that young players, those born in the 2000s, must compete against La Rochelle. It's part of a pilgrimage, facing a bunch of renowned forwards.
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You experienced difficulties on the mauls in Lyon before rectifying the situation against Stade Français. How are you approaching this meeting against a renowned team in this sector?
The conquest of La Rochelle is one of the musts on the European scene, with a particular way of defending in particular with Skelton, who is on the limit but who is correct 80% of the time. You have to be able to adapt to this way of doing things. They also have a lot of density on the right axis with Atonio and Skelton. These are things that we work on, because we know each other very well with the Rochelais. We worked on all that this week with players who don't know these things and who will confront what is perhaps the best in Europe.
This La Rochelle match is a bit of a revelation.
How do you manage to mobilize your players when this match may not have the same importance as usual?
It's a personal message for some who are going to start a Top 14 match, perhaps their first match for some. I remember young players who came up against this team, like Guillaume Cramont, Clément Vergé, Josh Brennan who had a very good match there last year. I am also thinking of Mathis Castro-Ferreira or Théo Ntamack who have already trained there. In your playing career, you have to come up against this kind of team. The challenge is there. You have to be able to show your rugby qualities but also your mental qualities, because it will take solidarity and courage. Values that we talk less about in current rugby but which were very present around ten years ago, but which are relevant today when we face La Rochelle.
Do you find yourself in the shoes of Stade Français last week, which had everything to gain and nothing to lose?
We go there without pressure with only the objective of playing a match with the standards expected in an away match, by being aggressive, strong in defense and with the desire to exist in conquest. Afterwards, what happens in La Rochelle interests us little. We have enough things to resolve internally with this sequence of matches which is not working in our favor. The Rochelais also have to face Leinster the following week and I think they are thinking about it too.
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Did you sense excitement among the young people?
The preparation was short since we came out of two days of vacation. I felt excitement but above all a lot of concentration, with mutual help from the elders and the young people to work well collectively. I felt a lot of support from the elders and young people listening. They had a very good training this Thursday morning and I think they will be ready on Saturday.
Josh Brennan will be one of the most experienced players in your forward pack. Can you tell us about its progress in recent months?
He wins his duels more and he puts a little more intensity into these actions, offensive or defensive. I think he's changed the way he trains a little. He is a player who naturally has great athletic qualities and like any talented player he was able to make do with his qualities until a certain age but he understood that he had to work more to reach the milestone. That's what he did. Precisely, last year the match in La Rochelle gave him a lot of solutions because it was from this match that he really exploded with us, whether in 7 or 4. This La Rochelle match, It’s a bit of a reveal.
