Called to play in the second line since the start of the season due to several absences at the position, Pierre Bochaton, 23, has had a string of good performances with UBB, like his match against Toulouse last Sunday where he been poison in the rucks. Despite this result, he knows that his team still has to improve.
Did you celebrate the victory in Toulouse?
We celebrated this victory a little bit. We went to a small bar where we stayed until 2 hours before taking the road to Bordeaux. It wasn’t very violent but it was more to mark the occasion after this away success. We quickly got back to work because it is important to put in a good performance against Bayonne to avoid losing points and not spoil this first away victory. Last season, Rowing gave us problems in Chaban and we snatched victory in the last minutes. We are focused on this meeting to be ready on Saturday.
Are you looking at the rankings? Is it important for confidence to be in the lead?
It’s anecdotal after four days. We must continue to work while remaining on the current dynamic. We will do an initial assessment in the middle of the season to find out where we are. It’s too early to look at the rankings yet. We have had a good start to the season but we have had some difficulties in winning and defending. In this sector, we responded to Toulouse because until then we had conceded quite a few tries, but we still have to work because we have some great teams to face in the coming weeks.
Is the last defensive sequence in Toulouse important in the construction of your season?
It’s a good result because we’ve been talking about our defense near the lines and on penalties since the friendly matches. We quickly took points on these phases. This time we didn’t give up. We stuck together to defend well and not lose the match. It really did our heads good. We saw that we were capable of doing it. This demonstrates that beyond the game we offer, we are also capable of defending, that the team is also efficient outside of its offensive system.
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Top 14 – 83.8% successful tackles… In stats, how the UBB defense managed to muzzle Stade Toulouse
You managed to make Emmanuel Meafou lose his composure to obtain a significant penalty. Is this something that matters when you play up front?
(Laughs) I’m obviously happy but that wasn’t the goal. The finality means that we have a penalty but that was not wanted. But, it’s good, especially because of the area we were in. This allowed us to get out of our camp.
Can we describe you as a difficult player, in the good sense of the word?
I like working on defense. Now, you can’t just be a pain on the pitch otherwise you won’t play rugby anymore. We come to forget the main things, like being supportive, being reactive. You just have to give everything you can. Afterwards, Yannick (Bru, Editor’s note) wants us to work a lot in the rucks to slow down everyone because it’s always difficult to defend against a team that is advancing. Slowing down the rucks is one of our priorities.
You have been helping out on the second line since the start of the season. How do you feel?
I feel good in the second row. I also like this post. This is where I started in Bourg-en-Bresse, so I feel like I’m coming back to my roots. It makes me feel good to play in the second row. It’s not that different from the third row even if I find myself a little more in traffic and less on the wings. You just have to push in the scrum (laughs). Second row at 19 in the National, it’s a good learning experience (laughs) even if it went slower. Afterwards, I don’t care about the post. As long as I play, I’m happy. I’m only 23, I want to continue working to play and see where it takes me.
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Does having Jonny Gray at your side help you?
Obviously, I watch him and I learn from him because he has 80 caps with Scotland. He’s a tremendous sideline leader. He keeps his calm on the field to announce while a second line always has his head in the handlebars on the field but he manages to come down to be lucid all the time.
What do you expect against Bayonne?
It’s going to be a match focused on conquest. Even if things have been a little better in this sector in recent weeks, we are not yet at our best level. We will have to be good in closed scrums and very strong to defend in touch and on mauls. Then, we also know that they have experienced kickers, so we will have to be efficient in gaining ground because it is a sector where they are very strong. It’s up to us to reproduce the same match as in Toulouse. We won’t have to decompress otherwise we will lose.
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