Toulouse took “a real lesson in rugby” from Leinster (40-17) on Saturday in Dublin in the semi-finals of the European Cup, admitted its coach Ugo Mola, whose team will now quickly have to “recover head upside down" to defend his Top 14 title.
What feeling dominates after such a heavy defeat?
Ugo Mola:
There is inevitably the disappointment of not going all the way to Marseille (where the final is played, editor's note).
Afterwards, quite logically, the best team will play one more match.
On the freshness, the speed, the changes of rhythm, I have the impression that there was a team and another which unfortunately did not manage to get their hands on the ball, in particular on the moments when we would have could put a little more pressure on Leinster.
Congratulations once again to this team who achieved an XXL performance.
I wasn't jarring when I said that I was quite admiring of the rugby she offered and I'm even more tonight.
Read alsoLeinster-Toulouse: the favorites and claws of our special correspondent
What lessons can you learn from this?
You always learn, especially from your defeats.
But we'll have to digest it, get our heads straight after taking a real rugby lesson.
What is still positive is that a great rugby team is in the European Cup final.
We have a season to finish, with a national title to defend.
You never come out unscathed from these kinds of encounters.
It brings us face to face with our reality.
You have to analyze the good things in order to be able to come out better.
We must not be mistaken either on the deadlines to come.
Presumably, the qualification (in the final phase of the Top 14) will be very tense.
We don't have too much time to think, we just have to be in the action and in the capacity that we will have to be as fresh as possible to try to play better rugby.
How much did your team's freshness weigh in?
When I left (the locker room), Johnny Sexton was exchanging his jersey with Romain Ntamack.
There is one who is 22 years old and the other 36, but there is one who has played 27 matches this season and the other 12 (...) We made the task a little complicated in the Cup Europe with a lot of away matches.
What is certain is that the 32 minutes (of effective playing time) of our championship do not prepare us for what we experienced today.
But since we are in the best championship in the world...
