Le Figaro: You have just extended until 2025. What is your club project?
Patrice Collazo: We started this project two seasons ago. The first was complicated because the club was at the end of its cycle, it was necessary to restart a different model, to renew the workforce, including with more young people, which was no longer the hallmark of Toulon. What is essential for me in this extension is to be surrounded by a staff and managers with whom I have frank and trusting relations and a human relationship with my players. This project is based on the long term with them. The most confirmed, some of whom have also signed long-term contracts, and young people, so as not to have any more turnover in the workforce each year ... After four years, it's a big mark of confidence, but the last time that I signed a four-year contract, I left after three months because I no longer trusted the leaders ...
You therefore want to promote the young people of the training center.
It would be utopian to say that all the young people trained here will evolve in the first team. The training center is the base of the pyramid but we cannot only play young people. They must be supervised with experienced players. It is a balance to be found. But it is rewarding and good for the future to have a base of players very marked by the identity of the club.
" Today, there are other prospects than a good contract to come to Toulon "
Charles Ollivon, the captain of the XV of France, the South African world champion Eben Etzebeth and others have extended for a long time. It's rather rare…
They got involved because they have prospects: that of training in a new center, that of supervising young people who are rising, that of hoping to win titles. Their commitment goes beyond a contract. These players have such high standards, such a desire to win, that when they make a long-term commitment, it is because they consider that everything is in place to achieve their goals ... In recent years, some players came here looking for a good contract and a good quality of life. Today, there are other prospects for coming to Toulon.
Why have 37-year-old Sergio Parisse extended for a season in a month?
I wasn't a big fan of Sergio Parisse in recent seasons because… that's what ( the captain of Italy chose his matches, Editor's note ). We spoke frankly and I found the Parisse that I admired, with the state of mind of a 20-year-old. He's a locomotive, a huge competitor. He wants to finish on a great season, on a title. He gives himself the means to do so on a daily basis. He is a very easy player to train. And I told him that if the seasons were to last only six months, he could play until he was 45 ( laughs ) ...
READ ALSO: Sergio Parisse at Le Figaro: "I did not arrive in Toulon by being shy"
Are you satisfied with the state of form of your players?
They had a lot of time in June and July to prepare, which is not our habit in Top 14. They are therefore in great shape, in full possession of their means. In addition, we are numerous, the entire workforce has been available since the beginning of June, French and foreign internationals, under 20s, all those who usually join us later. It is a luxury that I have never had since I started training. With players focused 100% on the club. So we do quality training. After that, we haven't played for six months ...
And full of envy too, after this long forced stop?
A lot yes. Envy, enthusiasm, determination. They miss the competition.
" This period created a unit that there was no longer necessarily for a while, in rugby in general "
This confinement, economic fears, have they changed their outlook, their involvement?
It changed the relationship between players and their club, and rugby in general. They realized that rugby could stop overnight. That they could be deprived of their passion for months. So they asked themselves a lot of questions. They stood in solidarity with the club in making decisions to help them get through this difficult time. It created a unity that there was not necessarily for a while, in rugby in general. It's positive. They really appreciate the environment, which the club does for them. They are less in a consumer mode, more in an actor mode of the project.
READ ALSO: Stade Toulousain collects 1.3 million euros for its "support wall"
The president of the RCT, Bernard Lemaitre, appreciated that they spontaneously offered to lower their salaries.
The president is not responsible for this crisis. I spoke with the players, asked them to think about what the club is, how can they help it. It was important to have this solidarity of the players, the staff, the administrative staff. But there is no advertising to make on this gesture, nor figures to give. It only concerns us.
“ We will resume with the Top 14 and, after only two days, we will switch to a final phase. It's hyper-motivating for a player ”
Have you digested the brutal interruption of the season, and the end of hopes for a growing RCT?
The disappointment is still there. But there are much more serious things. There were deaths, people in distress. At such times, rugby takes a back seat. It is for this reason that the club had chosen to communicate at a minimum. It is a question of modesty and ethics. We must not mix everything up… After, yes, the players were frustrated. We managed to keep them under a certain pressure by telling them that what we had done was not lost, that they will not start from scratch. We can capitalize on this period ( the RCT was on a series of 12 games without defeat when the competition stopped, Editor's note ) by not forgetting everything you did.
Can this dynamic be maintained?
She's not broken. There is a dynamic of work, a determination to remain constant, a desire to continue to seek our objectives from last season. When we put so much involvement in training, it's to try to find something at the end… But it will be an extremely long season. The preparation started on June 1st and, if we ever qualify for the final phase, it will have lasted more than twelve months! There, we will resume with the Top 14 and, after only two days, we will switch to the quarter-finals of the European Challenge last season. Almost immediately therefore, we will be in the final phase. It's hyper-motivating for a player.
Many are talking about a possible three-title season for the RCT…
( He laughs ) It's funny, there are six French clubs involved like us in three competitions but we only attribute this ambition to us. I didn't quite understand why. Perhaps these people have detected certain qualities in us, that's a lot of honor ( smile )… Winning a competition is already complicated; winning two is rare; and winning three, of course, never happened.
Read also
- Patrice Collazo at Le Figaro: "Rugby really needs to restart"
- Coronavirus: fear on the Top 14 - Top 14 - Rugby
