the essential
The Toulouse hooker, who has scored 13 tries this season, including nine at club level, talks about his approach to carrying the ball close to the in-goal area, as well as how he has evolved to increase his statistics within a very attacking team.
“It doesn’t matter what number, they’re all capable of scoring.” The declaration, signed by La Rochelle manager Ronan O’Gara, last Thursday before the semi-final lost by his team against Stade Toulousain, perfectly sums up the striking force of the “red and black”. Because no fewer than 37 players (1), out of the 58 used this season, contributed to bringing the total number of tries to… 153 in 35 matches, or more than four per weekend on average!
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Behind the untouchable Matthis Lebel (16), Peato Mauvaka shares with the amazing Mathis Castro-Ferreira the place of best forward with nine goals to his credit (4 in Top 14, 5 in Champions Cup), without counting the four under the blue jersey. Not bad for a heel, right? “Yes but I wanted to score in the final against Leinster to be tied with Matthis in the European Cup,” says the New Caledonian, teasingly, obviously not blaming the winger for scoring the decisive try at the start of extra time at Tottenham.
“Sometimes it goes too fast, it’s really to make the GPS work!”
Nonetheless, the total remains quite impressive. Mauvaka qualifies: “It is certain that the hooker has more chances of scoring than the other forwards because he directs the maul. And when you are five meters away, the heel rarely gives the ball to the one behind, he keeps it In the European Cup, I was very lucky to have touches close to the line. I was 60% sure that if we moved forward, I was not going to give the ball to the 9 and that I would. were going to go behind the line There are some who give, I don’t! I’m keeping and expanding the testing cabinet (laughs)!”
However, if he scored a lot on carried balls, the French international also did so by offering an additional option to the ball carrier after a crossing: “This season, I tried to make the effort on my support races by telling myself that the ball might come back to me after a while and it worked and if it didn’t come, I at least made the GPS work and they couldn’t tell me that. I couldn’t move without a ball!”
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An attitude which seems to be inspired by a certain Antoine Dupont, and more generally by scrum halves, always quick to appear inside after crossings. “Yes because he is always behind on any breakthrough, confirms Mauvaka. I told myself that I was going to do the same thing by continuing my races rather than cutting and it worked well. I try to do so. do it in every match even if sometimes it goes too fast on the big grazing kicks, it’s really to make the GPS work (laughs)!”
“You know that if this doesn’t work, the boss will come down on you.”
A freedom on the pitch that the hooker fully assumes, even if it sometimes makes his captain at a club like the Blues say that he must not forget that he wears the No. 2 on his back. “There are a lot of players who like to play ball and let loose on the pitch,” he replies with a smile. “That’s where you see that we are different from other teams where each player can pass you 20 meters The staff gives us a certain freedom on the ground. You do what you want but you know that if it doesn’t work, the boss will come down on you. That’s also what makes you try without saying no. plus a 50 meter chistera But Antoine says that because he scored fewer tries than me.
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Exactly three, if we obviously exclude the seven registered on the world Sevens circuit. “Ah yes, otherwise we also count those in training!” laughs Mauvaka, used to regularly crossing the goal line with the ball, even if he had never done it as much as this season. “When I was in the youth teams, I often scored a lot of tries and there, it’s true that I scored more than usual,” he continued when we met him. It was before the half and he had not given up in his duel with the Gers winger. He then said that he “missed a game or two and we’ll see.”
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His achievement canceled in Bordeaux, unlike that of Lebel which also caused him to block his back, the gap between the two teammates is now increased to three achievements. And Mauvaka has probably not said his last word. Because it will not have escaped his attention that Maxime Lamothe, his Gironde counterpart, scored a double last weekend…
