Obviously satisfied with Toulouse’s victory against La Rochelle, Thomas Ramos was smiling a few minutes after kick-off. However, the international full-back highlighted his team’s difficulties in the ground game and is wary of the team that Stade Toulouse will face, whether it is Union Bordeaux-Bègles or Stade français.
What state of mind are you in after this victory?
We are obviously happy. However, we didn’t win anything at the end of this match so we’re not going to jump for joy because there’s no title at the end. And then we have a lot of respect for this La Rochelle team so we enjoy it on our side.
Ugo Mola said that there was still room for improvement, do you agree?
Yes. The Rochelais put us in difficulty during a good part of the match. There were then some gambling incidents and I am not here to comment on them. In any case, we will have to be more precise in certain sectors during the final if we want to win this Top 14. I am thinking in particular in terms of combat.
Personally, how did you experience this match and your tenure?
We all know the competition there is in the team, places are expensive. It was frustrating to start on the bench in the Champions Cup but you have to accept it. This Friday evening, I wanted to have a good match for myself and especially the team. In the first half, there were some spaces so we were able to take advantage of them. Overall happy with the team’s game.
There was a lot of fighting, did you enjoy this match?
Obviously I had fun. If we don’t take a half of the Top 14… The stadium was full with two big teams facing each other. We still took five tries so it wasn’t necessarily that closed.
You will have one more day of recovery than your opponent in the final, is that a real advantage?
I think it will actually count. Then, whichever team we face in the final, they will have nothing to lose. Everyone will say that we are favorites for this final. For our part, we will analyze our performance and we will respect the opponent we face.
We saw you making gestures to your teammates to set the pace in the second act, were you frustrated?
In the second half, I found that we played a lot forty meters from our line, therefore in our camp. We fell into a false rhythm after their first red card. I think we could have made things easier by going to them a little more.
We have the impression that you lacked realism, do you agree…
It’s true. The Rochelais nevertheless made up for certain blows by scraping balls on the ground in particular. At certain times, we were not able to be precise and sharp enough.
Do you feel like you’ve won the kicking battle?
We actually managed to counter them with their kicking games. And I also think that we could have left them a little more in their camp in the second half.
How is your collaboration with Blair Kinghorn, who started on the wing?
I try to speak a little English with him but it’s complicated (laughs). Fortunately, he’s a super intelligent guy, who already knows how to speak a few words in French. He knows the basic words for rugby, so we do very well in terms of communication. As for his positioning on the wing, he played there a few times with Scotland so he adapts very well.
