Victorious with the offensive bonus against Bayonne (42-10), the MHR players and their coach were satisfied with their performance during this 14th day of Top 14, this Saturday January 4.
Joan Caudullo, MHR Manager: “Winning like we did, I find it good. Stringing together victories, I find it good. This is the fifth in a row with the Challenge. I'm proud of the players, of what they were able to do, because it wasn't easy at the start of the season. And I have the feeling that today, they want to play more than maintain. I promised them, I'll stop talking about it. Today it's five points, so it's perfect for us. I think it’s a foundation that we built and they’ve never failed. Since the La Rochelle match, I have never had the feeling that we are missing out on that.”
Alexandre Bécognée (3rd line of the MHR): “It's a collective rediscovered. I think that the work of the whole group, the staff, the players means that we have found each other well and that we are united on the pitch. And that is felt in the moments when we have to work collectively. When they came back at the start of the second period, we had a tendency to overplay, to see ourselves a little too good. We had to get back to the basics and regain dominance in the areas of defense, scrum, and carried balls. And then we can afford to play. We didn't do that too much at the start of the second half and afterwards, we were able to get back into the flow of the game. It was rather positive.”
Arthur Vincent (MHR center): “It's been a while since we've been able to have this kind of feeling. It's great. Last week also in Clermont it was a bit the same. It's great to be able to experience this kind of moment together. The whole group, all 40 guys… We had studied Bayonne's game well. We tried to see the opportunities, what could work, etc. It was essential to continue, to validate this victory in Clermont with a success at home. We knew it was a very important match. He could potentially change the season for us. In any case, to do us good and validate the success we did in Clermont. It was about working, being focused, putting in a serious week, something that was done. Even if we have a disastrous start to the second half, there is always work to be done. It’s satisfying, we’re really happy.”
“We came across stronger”
Gregory Patat (Bayonne manager): “Otook a rugby lesson. There are four players who have concussions, we take a red… The commitment was on the side of Montpellier. We were unable to rise to their level. It was 4th against 7th. They have been talking about the bottom of the ranking since the start of the season. They didn't want to go back to the bottom of the rankings. We knew that their motivation was going to be exacerbated by this position in the ranking and their latest performances. We had clearly identified things. We knew it could happen like this. That's what I said at the briefing. If we look at them, if we wait for them, we will take 30 or 40. Today, we simply came across stronger.”
