A few days before playing the Stormers, Facundo Isa, who has never lost this season in five appearances, spoke of his excitement at dawn to find the queen of club competitions. The third row appears optimistic and ambitious for his club.
Every time you've been on the scoresheet, Toulon has won. How do you feel?
I feel great. The beginnings were a little difficult on a physical level, because I didn't have the chance to play matches on the pitch. In recent weeks, I have been offered the opportunity to continue. I feel very strong at the moment. I feel that I am progressing thanks to the work of Pierre (Mignoni, Editor's note) and the entire staff. GPS data is good. In bodybuilding, I'm still there (laughs). I work a lot, and I see beneficial results.
You are therefore a reflection of the team, which has not lost since the end of the international break…
At the moment, we respect on the ground what we work on during the week. The group is good, and everyone has been feeling good for several weeks. We do what we need to do, we keep the ball a little more. We want to move towards this rugby, and we have been working on it since the preseason. We had a little difficulty reproducing it during matches at the start of the season. Now we are almost already halfway through the season, we feel much better and the benchmarks are arriving. It's nice to see the club doing so well at the moment.
A new challenge is before you with a trip to South Africa. How do you feel about the group and what will be the secret to a successful trip?
I experienced that with Argentina, particularly during the Four Nations. You have to adapt well. With my experience, I know a little of the secret: not to think, and to take care of yourself. We don't go to South Africa for vacation. During the first days, emphasis should be placed on recovery, paying particular attention to sleep and hydration. When you take such a trip, you can leave some juice in transport. For rugby, we will have to trust what we have been doing for several weeks. We won't have much time to train on the pitch there, so we have to look for other things. These are trips where you have to use your mind and work off the field. I am thinking in particular of meetings and video. The week goes quickly, but you'll have to be ready: the Stormers will want to eat us and kill us.
-Some of your teammates, like Baptiste Serin, were not very excited by the arrival of the South African franchises. What is your perception?
I have the vision of a foreign player. I think it's good for our group. We will meet in South Africa with 30 players. It is a journey that can bring us together and unite us in a completely different context. Honestly, it can help us for the end of the season. It could be a turning point, because we're going to live together for eight days. Each guy in this group must know his role and dig deep within his mind. In addition, Toulon has never played on another continent. It's a wonderful challenge because we can become the first to win this far. For my part, it's an exciting challenge. I have many French partners who have never had the chance to go to South Africa. It's an enriching experience as a player but also as a person. The Stormers will offer us another rugby, a rugby made of speed. They will want to harm us by offering us a lot of volume.
Toulon remains on six defeats in a row in the Champions Cup…
(He cuts) I speak in my own person: I am extremely vindictive about what happened last season. I love this Champions Cup, I love playing against different opponents all over Europe and now around the world. As I told you: we are good in the championship, but we have to face a new challenge. We have to show what we are worth. Last year, we played good matches without achieving anything. Honestly, it gave me the “pigne” (a Provençal feeling which is close to anger, Editor’s note). I want to return to the semi-finals of this competition, the final… I want the club to relive these things, a bit like we were able to do in the Challenge Cup. The European Cup means a lot here.
You attended the broadcast of the documentary discussing the 2014 double. Doesn't that put the pressure back on before starting this competition?
No (Laughs). This is the beautiful past of this club. It's exciting to see such images. I am perhaps the last to have experienced this a little from the inside. This generation, with hard work, has achieved great things. I'm sure this group can do it. We must put ourselves in this same state of mind to bring Toulon back to where it deserves to be.
