the essential
The Montalbanais went through a mouse hole this Friday evening to overcome a combative Stade Niçois, who left with the defensive bonus point (34-30).
The joy was measured in the Tarn-et-Garonnais locker room.
Sébastien Tillous-Borde (manager): “Nice is a team which, in its last three away matches, had won twice, and had brought home a defensive bonus point, from Dax. We were warned. They came with the typical team. We played to scare each other, lacking rigor, particularly on our conquest, where we lost a lot of balls by being undisciplined, rightly or wrongly. We have to work. We have to win these matches differently. On the sidelines, several times our guys were wrong about their role. We must be demanding, knowing the role we must play. Now, I find that we were refereed rigorously. We are first, but we are not doing enough to be a confident first. When we increased the intensity, things happened. Nice were often at fault on the ground game, without necessarily being penalized. It's up to us to figure out why to make things easier for ourselves. We are going to question ourselves. Agen will be a difficult trip for us. Tonight, we weren't fabulous but we won. »
Jérémie Maurouard (hooker): “We are going to rectify this week what didn’t work. It is not easy to carry out a precise hot analysis. I'm very happy to have returned to the game after four months in the infirmary. I ate very dry to come back even better. I'm starting to get older, I have to be demanding of myself. At the start of the match, we got caught in the rucks, relying on their good conquest. They wanted to win, and left with the defensive bonus. This kind of match puts your feet back on the ground. We have to stay focused. We wanted to overplay, by not being present enough in the fight. We re-mobilized, sensing the public who was not happy. Me, who played in La Rochelle, we need an audience that is a sixteenth man. We stuck together to get this victory. I come from the Top 14, and I see that Pro D2 is getting tougher and tougher. It hits. We'll need everyone. »
Mariano Taverna (Nice coach): “By being more precise in the second half, we could have won. We leave with a point from the leader, it's very positive for a promotion. I think there was room to come away with more. We performed well in conquest, but that was not enough to win the match. We increased our intensity in defense. We can talk about frustration. We didn't get out of our camp enough in the second half. They kept us under pressure. The results are good, but we could have done better. We are still under construction. I'm Argentinian, at home or away, it's the same. »
