Top 14 – Matthis Lebel (Stade Toulouse): “We were often moved in Castres”

Toulouse hadn’t lost at home for two and a half years, we imagine that the desire will be there in Castres?

Of course. There are things we don’t want to deviate from. This defeat brought us back to face our reality. We realize that since the start of the season, we have had more difficulty enjoying ourselves at the back, and we are aware of that. But we work every day to rediscover what makes us strong: both this notion of pleasure but also that of combat which exists in rugby.

What debriefing did you do about the defeat against Bordeaux? What went wrong?

Lots of things, otherwise the match would have been different. What stands out is that Bordeaux arrived with the desire to redeem themselves from the final. We didn’t want to stay on that but we weren’t able to respond to what they offered us. I found them very effective, but not us. We were moved in the contact phases so it never feels good to lose, but once again it brought us face to face with our reality. The Top 14 is tough, and if you don’t put all the ingredients in it won’t work. We deluded ourselves about the first three days which gave us results on an accounting level, but these did not reflect reality. Against teams against Bordeaux, this does not work. We got back to work, without turning our heads upside down.

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Ugo Mola said on Sunday evening that this defeat allowed Stade Toulouse to fall into line and that he did not mind. Do you share his opinion?

It’s never pleasant to lose at home, in front of your audience, and even more so against a direct competitor. On the other hand, it brings us face to face with our reality and shows us that the other teams are working hard too. There, we blew a real joker at home and those count for a lot. We risk running behind these four points for the rest of the season, although I don’t hope so.

You said that you are moving in the combat phases, will you have any surprises on what awaits you this weekend in Castres?

The two clubs know each other quite well. The history of confrontations shows that it is often the same and more… Castres is not just a team that is squabbling and plays footwork. They know how to do that, but this team is capable of making remarkable moves with very, very high-level individuals. If we do not meet this commitment, in front of their audience who are impatiently awaiting this match, it could be a very long Saturday evening.

Also read:
Top 14 – Toulouse: challenge of pride before the derby against Castres

Why not rediscover the pleasure of last season?

We always train with the banana, and I find that our forwards hold the house for us. We are in a delicate situation when it comes to scoring. Maybe the opposing teams are more attentive so it’s up to us to find the solutions without wearing out our forwards.

We talk a lot about your forwards. Do three-quarters of Toulouse want to take away their cover?

No, we are delighted to see that our forwards win penalties in scrums, are dominant on mauls or offer us favorable situations. We don’t want to pull the cover on ourselves, we want to work collectively to find consistency between the forward play and the three-quarter play.

Have you talked about the consecutive defeats at Pierre-Fabre in recent years?

We reviewed some sequences yes, and the stats show that it’s been four years since we last won there. The differences in the score are not huge, but we often made strong moves there.

You risk crossing paths with Christian Ambadiang, what are your thoughts on this player who quickly adapted to the Top 14?

Indeed it is surprising. Physically, he has obvious predispositions. He must have done good preparation since the coaches quickly trusted him. He was quickly adopted by the Castres public as well and this can allow this type of player to transcend himself in each match. He is one of the weapons of this Castres team. We’ll have to watch him closely, that’s for sure.