Le Figaro. Last season was a disappointment for the RCT. Do you feel compelled to do better?
To discover
The schedule for the new season of Top 14
Baptiste Serin:
Last season was catastrophic for a lot of reasons.
We had a lot of injuries, we suffered the Covid, at home and in other clubs, we had to do without our internationals… Of course, we should have adapted to all that.
But we were not able to align the typical team during the season.
This is what we lacked at the end of the season, when we lost matches that were well within our reach.
So we are aiming for a qualification for the final phase this season.
We want to go as far as possible, hang a title.
What makes you think it will be better this season?
We are starting again on a good basis. And the recruitment has been good: fewer internationals and more players with a Top 14 connotation, who have experience of this championship. I think that can make the difference. And then, at the end of last season, we laid the foundations. We did a little audit and we told each other things. Because it was not all the fault, of course, of the injured, the missing internationals.
Your president, Bernard Lemaitre, spoke of a new management style…
Without revealing everything, because many things must remain in-house, ethics will be put back at the center of the project.
It will be the team before the individuals.
We did not ramble on that last season… We have to put this notion back in the center.
And yes, change the management a bit.
Patrice (
Collazo
) will change things, but so will we, the players.
It's up to us to take our responsibilities.
There are also new members of the staff.
It will bring different words.
“
At the end of the season, we didn't walk away.
We stood on a platform to answer our supporters' questions as sincerely as possible.
"
Baptiste Serin
Will it be more open, more in the exchange with your manager, Patrice Collazo?
No that's not it.
Patrice has always been in the exchange.
But he had to constantly change the team so much that he struggled to build a foundation of confidence.
We never managed to line up three wins in a row, for example.
When trust doesn't set in, it gets complicated for everyone.
It is absolutely necessary to find it to launch a dynamic.
And regain the support of the supporters, who are rather critical of your team?
There will always be support in Toulon.
The love that supporters have for this club is immeasurable.
But we have to reconnect with the public, yes.
Recreate something with them after more than a year deprived of public.
At the end of the season, we did not walk away.
We stood on a platform to answer their questions as sincerely as possible.
That they understand that we are trying to give everything but that there are also many other parameters.
Fate got involved last season.
But we are all willing to work together to achieve our goals this time.
We want to relive this fire.
“
My shoulder surgery marks the end of something.
It will allow me to start a second career, to start afresh.
"
Baptiste Serin
What does the recruitment of Cheslin Kolbe inspire you?
I am very happy that he is joining us. For me, he's the best player in the world for the past three years. Its contribution is undeniable. He has won a lot of titles and will bring his experience to our back lines. It will also bring this culture of work that is not visible. Everyone sees Kolbe through his individual flashes. But what marks me the most about him are all the efforts he makes for the collective and which are less visible: running in a sprint on a high ball, getting back into place, always in a sprint, to help teammates in need. … That's what makes him such a great player. Recruiting him is also a strong message for us, the players, and for the supporters of the RCT. Even if we know that Kolbe alone will not give us the qualification.
To read also Lemaitre (Toulon): "It is imperative to monetize the arrival of Cheslin Kolbe"
At the end of June, you had your shoulder surgery. Where are you ?
I will spend the whole month of September at the CERS (European Center for Sports Rehabilitation, Editor's note) in Capbreton. As I am quite early, I would like to return to the fields in December. Afterwards, it is an operation on the shoulder cuff… In general, this is what happens to people who have worked all their lives with a shovel, who have worn tendons. I had an operation for that at the age of 27, on a trauma suffered four years ago with Bègles, it's… I don't regret having waited, I had too many deadlines. But there, I really had to have an operation. It marks the end of something. And that will allow me to start a second career, to start afresh.
