Paolo Garbisi, who regulated the three-quarter line rather well, was inevitably smiling post-match when commenting on his team’s progress.
Toulon is qualified. What feelings prevail in the locker room after this game?
We are very happy. It was a big goal for the clubeven more so after our last season. It didn’t go as we wanted, but that’s ancient history. We have three victories, even if we only have one which is improved. Beyond the accounting aspect, the most important thing is to win and string together victories at Mayol. This is crucial. We feel that we are giving our supporters a good afternoon and that makes the whole group happy.
We felt a special atmosphere at Mayol and around this match…
In Toulon, the supporters feel the big matches and… they have a superpower in these kinds of conditions (laughs)! We felt special all week around us. When we have an afternoon when the weather is nice, there is the European Cup coming back here, we feel that the memories come back to the supporters. On the ground, it carries us and it pushes us. The club is together. I think that Toulon and its history deserve to experience big matches like the one we played against a great Harlequins team. This club deserves to have great afternoons.
Is this Toulon’s best offensive score in two seasons?
Yes. Competition leads us to play like that. The Champions Cup pushes teams to play more and more. In the locker room, with Baptiste (serine, NDLR), we were happy because we feel like we are getting better and better. In attack, things are improving. We play more and more with the right timing and we manage to put the guys in spaces. We multiply the sequences and everyone is in place in the system. Let’s keep that. Now, we have to learn to play a little more standing up to progress another notch. There is Gaël’s essay (Dréan)which comes after a post-contact pass from Jiuta (Wainiqolo). We have to move towards that but we are getting better and better. We also have to thank our big guys because they make our job easier every weekend.
A few weeks ago, you talked about your concern about the team’s offensive play. Is this ancient history? We feel a different pleasure from the top of the stand…
Obviously, we have more fun. We’re enjoying ourselves more at the moment. When we work together, when things work, when we find spaces and discrepancies in the corridors, you only want one thing: to start again! Yes, of course, we’re having more fun than we were a few weeks ago.
In the media space and even in the world of rugby, everyone is talking about Toulon’s current form…
(He cuts and smiles) I don’t know if everyone reads the press in the locker room. Living there, I can tell you only one thing: it motivates us more and more. We’re smart enough to take this the right way. We feel a lot of positivity around us. It just has to push us to look for more. We are in a big club. We have to take it the right way. We have gained nothing and we must not take ourselves for others.
With what ambitions are you going to take to the Sale pitch?
We want to win. In this competition, first place is essential. We want to receive as long as possible. We are performing well in Mayol. We feel good. The team absolutely wants to keep this first place to see as far as possible in this competition.
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