Four teams from the Top 14 will compete this weekend for two tickets to the semi-finals in Bordeaux. Saturday evening, at 9:05 p.m., Stade Rochelais will be in Toulonin an away play-off match, and on Sunday evening, Union Bordeaux-Bègles will host Racing 92. A few days before their trip to the Var, (the players leave by plane on Saturday morning from La Rochelle), Grégory Alldritt , the captain of Stade Rochelais spoke of this shock this Thursday. Interview with the international.
Saturday evening, more than 15,000 spectators are expected in Mayol, a warm atmosphere for this jump-off…
I think it’s going to be very, very hot. They have a big audience, with a lot of fervor, and honestly, a very big team, very physical. This is going to be quite a clash. I love playing at home in front of our fabulous supporters, but it’s true that playing in a very hostile stadium can be a boost. We’ll see, but I can’t wait to see it!
We feel that as this play-off approaches, your team is in good momentum, a draw and two victories, where is the trigger?
This month of May was a bit laborious for everyone, with these weeks of the European Cup where we stayed working without playing these Champions Cup matches. Seeing Toulouse lift the trophy reminded us of those magical moments on the port. We want to relive that. But we have often said it, we are not very very far away. There’s a little something missing. In these last matches, we found that, it gives a little confidence, and we saw it in Toulouse in particular. The match was far from perfect, but we had a decent performance.
You have a group with several experienced players, on the other hand Toulon has not played a final phase for six years, can this play a role?
Maybe… but now I think that this kind of match will not be decided on experience, but rather on intensity. This is going to be a battle of the Titans, and we are preparing for it as best we can. We are lucky to have an experienced staff, who knows the final stages, but now, I put myself in Toulon’s shoes as well. When you haven’t played a final phase in the championship since 2018, I will be rather excited, and ready to host Stade Rochelais.
Mayol likes fighting, Toulon too, you too, it’s going to hit very hard in front…
Yes… they have a big conquest, we also have a good conquest, but there are going to be spaces behind, they have players of great quality, us too, so it will be quite complete. It’s going to be a tug of war for 80 minutes. The smallest detail that we are going to leave them, they will rush into it to score us a try. Also pay attention to Melvyn Jaminet’s footwork. You have to put in the intensity, but also know how to channel it so that it doesn’t overflow too much.
A meeting which will also be played out in the recovery of balls on the ground
This is certainly one of the keys to the match, Toulon is the second team in scratches, and penalties recovered on the ground. We know it. So it’s up to us to do the job to make scraping complicated for them. But then, defensively, it is part of our DNA to contest all rucks. In recent weeks, we have refocused on this point too. It’s something we’re working on a lot, and we’re doing our best this weekend.
