Always present in the fight and the state of mind, the third row Romain Briatte said he was relieved by the victory of his team despite a heavy context and a performance, particularly in the first period, which was not very successful. Just as he reaffirmed the ambitions of the capital club to return to the top of the rankings.
Are you relieved to have reacted in the second half to get this victory?
Oui, we are extremely relieved. At half-time, we were behind on the scoreboard but there was no panic in the locker room. We may have had too much desire and determination. Result: we made mistakes. Me first. It’s me who makes the first mistake on a defensive climb. We weren’t under pressure in the first half. Above all, we knew how to react. It’s nice compared to the situation we were in. It’s not over. We are still in the second part of the ranking.
Aren’t you worried about your recurring difficulties, particularly in terms of offensive animation and kicking?
These are sectors that we work a lot on. We have to move quickly, it’s already the fifth day. Today there was a bit of pressure. Maybe that’s why we struggled to put our game together. But in terms of intentions, the desire to do well, I felt my partners had a lot of determination. This is what we needed to tighten up. Afterwards, obviously, there are approximations in passing or kicking, but we still found ourselves, even if nothing is certain. We now have to look for points outside.
Is the pressure you mention linked to the context of the week?
Not necessarily. This is above all the context of our classification. At the risk of repeating myself: thirteenth in the Top, this is not the place of the Stade français. It’s not the start to the season we wanted. Today, we must move forward, no matter what happened. This is club life, the law of sport. It’s sad but we had to make choices. I don’t want to go into the details of this story. The most important thing is the team and the reaction we had today.
How do you view the next two trips to Lyon and Castres?
We will have a long week to recover well before our match in Lyon next Sunday. We will have two matches against teams who were not in the final phase last year and who will be keen to be there this season. We know their ambitions, we know ours. We have points to make up, sacrifices to make to get back to the top of the table. The Stade Français is not in its place today. We want to see further, higher.
