Pro D2 – Jeff Dubois (Dax): “Noah Nene has enormous potential”

Jeff, is it better to play Jean Dauger or Maurice Boyau?

Apparently, we take offensive bonuses here, so we will ask ourselves the question (smile). Tonight, it’s a sigh of relief. This match was not easy to understand, I think we prepared well for it. We told the players to take advantage of it, to take all the energy from the public, then to enter a bubble, because we were going to be fifteen against fifteen on the field. I think we had a very good match. I don't know if the red card helps us, but I think we were in a good place.

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Had you thought about this scenario?

No, of course not, but it's nice. It's our first offensive bonus away, finally at home and that's nice. We finish the block in the best possible way. This block was not easy, we had talked about it during the week and I wanted us to finish it well. It is. You know, six games is hard for organizations. There were cramps, the guys hung on. Last week, we took 50 in Bézierswe had not been there in the state of mind and the fight. This evening, there were all the ingredients.

The team recovered after a complicated week. Is the manager that you are reassured?

Yes. This evening, we found this joy again. Since the start of the season, in the matches we have won, we are happy, but not that happy. There is great joy there. We are going to enjoy it, there is a lot of happiness. This Pro D2 is very difficult and winning matches is a good thing. I found that we had lost that soul a bit. We think that winning is almost normal, but it is not normal. Well, not at home… You know, we spent 15 difficult days, there is joy, happiness, that's what we had last year after each match. I think we had lost that joy a little, because we had returned to the normality of Pro D2. Today we created yet another exploit.

What did you like most about your team?

The first action, because it sets the tempo. I was afraid that we would have some apprehension with this stadium, the public. On the first action, which we shouldn't necessarily play like that, there is a forward pass, but we tried it because it was good. I liked it! That set the pace. Even though we had to defend at the back, I said to myself, after this action, “we are off”.

What about your defensive solidarity?

There is a lot of satisfaction in this match. It's good that we went for the offensive bonus. Without him, there would have been a little bitter taste… There, it's perfect.

Have you heard from Jope Naseara?

Maybe it's the Crusaders. It's annoying. We were already looking for a joker in this position, this will speed things up.

What can you tell us about Noah Nene's performance?

He has enormous potential. He still needs to work, Laurent Labit, his coach at Stade Français, came to see him this week to assess his performance. In the game without the ball, he is like a young man of 20… He is a little lazy in certain phases (laughs). With the ball, he is extraordinary. He has gas in his legs. He wanted to go out because of the cramps. I told him that he wasn't going out because Bastien Daguerre had to go through his concussion protocol. Three minutes later, he scores this try from 60 or 70 meters. Sometimes he takes me for a… (smile). The cramp went away immediately.

Before scoring his try, he had had a considerable impact in the first half…

I asked him to play the duels, to get into this defense which is pressing a lot. That's what he did. Afterwards, Noah has to be in a team that plays rugby.

He is with you until the end of the year. Could his recent good performances change the situation?

No. He has a contract with us until the end of the season (an early release is not envisaged, Editor's note). Afterwards I wouldn't mind if he stayed another year.