the essential
Excluded for five faults in the Coupe de France, Camille Droguet, the Tarbes captain, will meet Basket Landes at 7 p.m. for the first leg of the semi-final. The tireless post 3 of the TGB does not hide his ambition before the big meeting.
If we come back to the return match in Bourges, what is your analysis?
The trap of this match was to say to ourselves that we had some margin compared to our 18 points from the first leg and to start badly. I was a little worried on this point, in relation to the state of mind of the team but, in fact, we got into the match straight away. There were even times when they got ahead but we came back every time. We didn’t give up and in fact, we expected more aggressiveness from them defensively. We weren’t too attacked and that allowed us to compete in the match with Bourges.
Until the last quarter.
They changed their strategy a little by becoming more aggressive and we said to ourselves that it was good, that it would do it. Once their machine was launched, we panicked. We started to be afraid of losing balls again, of conceding on each basket. But we still hold on to the match and we will remember that we advance to the semi-final.
At the end, there is liberation.
Maybe not because we see it more as an achievement and it was more pride to have eliminated Bourges and to say to ourselves that we were capable of doing it. Afterwards, yes, it doesn’t happen often to lose and be able to celebrate like we did. Moreover, in a room at the Prado which had fallen silent… So, we were the only ones making a racket in front of our presidents, a few supporters and our families.
You beat Bourges who won Basket Landes in the final of the Coupe de France….
(smile) so, so… We know that Basket Landes is within our reach. Clearly, we play the semi-finals to win them and go to the final. But, we will have to put in the same ingredients that we put in against Bourges at home to be able to win Basket-Landes. In the end, we almost have more ambitions for this semi-final than for the quarter-final because now we say to ourselves that we are capable of doing it.
Knowing that Basket Landes played between the two play-off rounds.
Yes, they had less time than us to rest. Afterwards, they play with a bench that is longer than ours. There are lots of factors that will be important and for us, the main thing will be to focus on ourselves and our basketball. Afterwards on the level of motivation and determination that we put in because it will also come down to the mind.
As captain, do you feel the team has confidence?
There’s something going on, that’s for sure. And as captain, when I need to do nothing for everything to go well, it means that the group is living well and is motivated. There is no need to say anything because everyone is determined and fully into the thing. My style of captaincy is more to show on the field by being all out.
Thursday evening, you will have the public with you again.
It’s clear ! The room will be full. At home, against Bourges, the public supported us and I think I had never seen so much madness. The end of the match, when you win and you see everyone like that, it’s indescribable emotions. We still count on our audience to be with us and even in difficult times it carries us.
Can we say that the TGB is serene?
Yes, in fact the TGB entered the play-offs with the status of outsider which is easier to bear. Nobody expected anything from us, even the public and when we won Bourges by 18 points, everyone was surprised. We have the impression that everything that happens to us is only positive. So, yes, as the semi-finals approach, it is a TGB which is calm. We are super motivated to prove and show that Tarbes is there!
