The reactions
Fabien Fortassin (VRDR manager): “I’m certainly not going to take the bonus point because we did everything not to win this match! I often take responsibility for a lot of things, but this evening I don’t take responsibility. I don’t ask my players to head butt, to take yellow cards, to play with 14 or even 13 players… We completely scuttled ourselves. Since the start of the season, it’s the easiest match we’ve had to play and we offered it to them on a platter. If I let go, I will be very harsh and very mean. I am proud of the majority of the team but a few individuals weighed us down. I was a pro for 15 years, I didn’t run fast, I didn’t jump high, I was terrible at weight training and I had incredible body fat, but I was lucky enough to play because I did it with a brain. That’s the difference between the high level and the others. The most important muscle is the brain, and we left it on the bus today. »
Scott Newlands (co-coach of the VRDR): “We are sad and angry. We came to play a match with the right state of mind, but we completely forgot the discipline aspect. Playing at 13 or 14 against a good Aurillac team is not easy. We were very valiant, but even with this point it is insufficient compared to what we showed in the first half. The mistakes? It’s difficult to explain. We had given the instructions to engage, but we did not maintain control. Yes, we scuttled tonight. We have to learn from our mistakes, commitment is not enough. »
Adrien Roux (3rd wing line and captain of VRDR): “I don’t know what to remember. We have a point, but even at 13 or 14 we were not far from coming back with victory. At 15, we could have come back with something else. This point, despite the turn of events, does not have the flavor of an away bonus. We tried to remain lucid, we held on without foiling, we didn’t take a suitcase because we have character. Even if we are no longer relegated, we are disappointed and we will try to keep a minimum of positive things otherwise the season will be very long. »
-Roméo Gontineac (Aurillac manager): “I’m proud of my big babies who did the job with the victory, but I’m disappointed with the performance. We were in difficulty largely because of the opponent. We did not know how to manage our numerical superiority after the red card (42nd, editor’s note), we rushed and we did not find the solutions. We never managed to put our game together, in the first half, we were non-existent despite a few balls recovered in the scrum. From Monday, we will train differently. »
Morocco
