The Clermont coach was satisfied with the reaction of his team, victorious by a small point on Saturday evening at La Rabine against Vannes (19-20). The opportunity to talk about the incredible trip to Brittany but also the European future.
What is your immediate reaction after your team's victory?
There are indeed the four points of victory. We're back in the rankings and we're erasing last week's bullshit. We showed a lot of character, we were strong! Even if we made it difficult for ourselves in the match with discipline that was not up to par. We had to be very steadfast about that and we weren't. It cost us dearly. But at the same time, we can win the match with the offensive bonus. This evening, we are happy.
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Exclusive – Top 14. “I swallowed snakes to stay the course”: Christophe Urios confides in his evolution, his fears and his convictions in Clermont
Is this setback at home against Montpellier (18-22) on the previous day erased with this success?
Last week, we couldn't get through it. What disappointed me was that we couldn't find the keys and yet it was an easier match than this one. I found that, over the past few months, we were gaining momentum. We had strong benchmarks and, in this match against MHR where we had to be a team, we did not succeed in doing so. I felt like we had taken a step backwards. So today, I wanted to see a team, with a state of mind. I wanted to physically hurt them because we are stronger than them. But it's a team with big men, it's not easy to win here. We played a team of possessed people. It's good to have done it, after last week's disappointment and also after this trip which was incredible.
Can you tell us about it?
We had to leave at 2:30 p.m. We took off a little later because the weather conditions here were not easy. What tipped us off was that we added fuel, we said to ourselves that it wasn't necessarily a good sign… When we arrived here, it got worse, after one hour flight. We couldn't see anything there. We tried to land two or three times, but we didn't succeed. The air traffic controllers made sure to land us as close as possible. Lorient, not possible, Rennes not possible, Brest not possible and Nantes did not want to receive us. So we found ourselves in Caen. It was lunar, we found ourselves in the airport alone. We were lucky enough to find people helping, notably the transporter, with a driver who was great. We should have been there Saturday at 4:30 p.m., we arrived at 10:30 p.m. I think the players were great, we could have gotten away with it! Finally, with the match at 9:05 p.m., we were in a great setting. We were able to rest, I found that we had managed the day well. The players made it go well. Ultimately there was no impact.
Next week, you will have beautiful English fog…
In fact, today's match was key, after, once again, last week's disappointment against Montpellier. It was important to get back in the rankings, to get my head back on track. I think we did things in order. It allows us to free ourselves before these two European matches which are coming up. We go to Bath and we host Bristol, the top two teams in the English championship. These are still big matches, but we want that. Clermont is a team which dominated the Top 14, which dominated the European Cup for years, and we were at the bottom of the wave. We're a little better. We need these confrontations, this hardness of the matches to show that Clermont wants to return to what it was in the past. We are not being choosy, we will play the best possible team to bring back as many points as possible from Bath and then we will have a final at home against Bristol. We want to qualify for the European Cup!
