Special Envoy to San Sebastián
To discover
- Schedule and results Top 14
- Top 14 Ranking
The disappointment of elimination
«
We are bound to be disappointed. It's the third semi-final in a row that we have lost. We learned again. Over the last four years, we are probably the third best French team but we see that we still have a small "gap" to overcome to be able to "match" with these teamsand play for the title.
»A bad start to make up for
«I'm not sure (that it penalized us). There are a few situations that can be better negotiated. With a little more experience, these will be things we may not do next season. Maybe we could have stuck a little more to the score. In the second half, we fight a little more, we take them to the break. But they manage to get back to three points and they put us at a distance.»
Read alsoLa Rochelle-UBB: the favorites and claws of our special envoy
Numerical superiority not fruitful
«At one point, they are fourteen (after the yellow card of Paul Boudehent, Editor's note) and we enter into an exchange of "ping-pong rugby" that does not suit them well. We would have liked to capitalize on that but we didn't. Afterwards, there are other mistakes, especially on the balls carried, where we defend very badly, we must not hide it. There are things to improve.»
A match in the image of the season?
«In terms of rugby, I don't have the impression that we haven't seen much. In front, we did not move enough, not enough things to our three-quarters. We will review this game to build on it next season. From this season, we have a lot to take away because we had character to get this far. We fought because in November (dismissal of Christophe Urios, editor's note), many gentlemen who have the microphones here thought that we would be twelfth at the end of the season and we are still there (in the final phase). We know that we can count on each other. It hasn't been a season for nothing. We promised ourselves that it wouldn't be a season for nothing, we did it. Now, we know that the very high level, Toulouse, La Rochelle, it's something else. We still have a course to go.»
The end of a cycle at UBB?
«I remember that it's been three years since we qualified (in the Top 14 or in the Champions Cup). The club has progressed, we are on the move. We held standards by going to the semi-finals in the competitions we played. The club had never done it before. We had a cycle of four where we progressed. Now, we are on the right path, we have gained experience, we must retain it. But now we have to switch to another step. The next step is to play finals and win titles. I tell myself that we are on the right track.»
Toulouse or La Rochelle winner?
«In fact, for four years, each team we meet in the final phase (league or European Cup) is champion. Will this be confirmed? We'll see for La Rochelle. It would be good for a player like Romain Sazy. It's a career I admire: he stayed at his club for years, that's kind of what I'm trying to do at Bordeaux. He has lifted two European Cups, that inspires me a lot. I hope for him that he will raise a Brennus.»