Top 14 – Stade français, the sleeping beauty

“We were very positive in the locker room at the break. You are in front on the outside, which hasn't happened often this season, you tell yourself that you can go all the way…” The Parisians and Joe Jonas were undoubtedly not the only ones to say it, in the Deflandre bays, once half-time whistled with a score of 11-15, what could be more logical, in favor of the visitors. It clearly smacked of a trap for a caravel from La Rochelle which, admittedly, took time to find the right balance between will and execution… But, woe! While they had chosen to start with the support of the wind to successfully implement their occupation strategy, the Pink Soldiers were unable to adapt and the good scent they had very quickly disappeared.

From the restart and the try conceded on maul (44th). “We are right for forty minutes, we hold them […] but, in this second half, we practically did not exist…grimaces Parisian attack coach Morgan Parra. We also experienced this scenario in Pau (3-13 at half-time, end of September)this feeling of holding the match for forty minutes and missing out in the second half. The explanation? We are looking for her […] The players are psychologically scarred, after complicated, hard months. Maybe the guys need to take a breath, clear their heads and come back fresh. Afterwards, there is no excuse, La Rochelle deserves its match without any problem.” No more than Brad Weber wants “use the wind excuse”simple “postman” when it comes to playing against.

Alarm clock within reach?

Even though Stade Français cannot ultimately ride on the convincing success (36-6) obtained a week earlier against Clermont, the All Black scrum half retains “lots of positives” of this trip to Deflandre. And wants to believe in the imminent awakening of the sleeping beauty. “It's a stadium where it's very difficult to play well, against La Rochelle. We had the momentum, the feeling was very good. The message to remember for the team is that we have to continue to believe in us […] If we manage to stick to the strategy and the game plan, to remain consistent for eighty minutes, we will annoy a lot of teams this season. We know where we want to go, that we have a good team with the players who can do it… We just have to mix it all together, work very hard. We can always do something in this competition. I'm confident that it will turn around very soon.”