How do you live
this victory against the UBB
and this final to come against Castres?
Benoît Paillaugue:
It was complicated for a lot of things.
I got injured, I was out of contract, I'm going to leave the club.
We know how important I am to this Montpellier club.
To find myself there... I have no words because I had a shitty season!
Making me the crusaders at 34, it was hard.
And play the final stages as a holder... In 2011, I was a substitute, we lost the final (against Toulouse) I took a yellow card.
In 2018, I had crossed paths, I had not played.
There, I will definitely start a final.
To discover
Find all the results of the legislative elections
Schedule and Top 14 results
Ranking Top 14
You are going to play your last match with the MHR in the final...
I savor every moment, every minute that I spend at the club, the round trips to my house, which I have done for 13 years.
I had only one fear today (Saturday) was to tell myself that this might be my last game.
And there I know that my last will be the final.
The last time I will wear this shirt.
This shirt can have crazy symbolism!
Well attached to the house.
We are going to prepare very well.
We'll go back to work on Monday.
We are going to play against Castres... Pfff... Four finals in nine years.
There will be nothing to say, they still had a crazy match against Toulouse.
It's a team that doesn't give up, a bit like us today.
With values,
Read alsoTop 14: in video, the trials of Montpellier's victory against UBB
Before the match, we heard the strong words of Guilhem Guirado. There we hear you, we have the impression that there is an extra soul this year...
This year, but last year too.
We are having a complicated season, we never gave up winning this title in the Challenge Cup.
That season helped us for this year.
We never betrayed each other when it was hard, we didn't shoot each other in the leg, we tried to find solutions.
Like what in sport, everything can go very very quickly.
We played maintains against Bayonne during the last day and there we are playing a Top 14 final, it's crazy!
(Smiles) Completely crazy.
You should have seen the locker room, it was kids.
Even me at 34, even Guilhem at 36... We also wanted to win for the guys who weren't playing.
I think a lot about Fufu (Ouedraogo), with 18 years at the club, no one else deserved to play that game.
Sometimes sport is unfair.
We have to remain humble, but we are lucky to be able to mark the history of the club.
To be forever the first to have brought back a title of champion of France
Benoit Paillaugue
What can you tell us about Gela Aprasidze, who replaced you and who scored two incredible kicks...
Yesterday (Friday), during the captain's training, we saw that the pitch was much smaller than at we.
He only hit 50m or 40m opponents, he did 8 out of 8. We said to him:
“Chicken, if you have any to try tomorrow, you take it, you have the green light!”
And he makes a 2 out of 2. He makes us win, it's good for the whole group, all the guys are involved.
We don't shoot each other in the leg, we all want the same goal.
We struggled so much that we want to savor every moment.
We have to remain humble, but we are lucky to be able to mark the history of the club.
To be forever the first to have brought back a title of champion of France.
It motivates.
With local players, we underline it very little...
Yes, it must be said, with players who have been trained at the club.
And There you go...
This final will be marked by the farewells of Ouedraogo but also those of Guirado...
They have done a lot of things for French rugby, for the club.
It's a great thing that they end up with a final, but it would be even more beautiful if they end up with a title.
