The second line of 36 years evokes the room of Brive after the rouste of Toulouse. CO is at a crossroads.
Is it difficult for you to evoke the severe defeat in Toulouse last weekend?
No ! When you’re caught by better than you, when you weren’t good, when your opponents were very realistic, when every time they came in your 22m, they scored, you see the difference between an excellent team, and a team like us. We wanted to know where we were, now we know that we are not at all at the level of Toulouse.
Can you still draw positive elements from this defeat?
It will allow us to continue working with the aim of reducing the gap between them and us. Simply. And then in a corner of our head, I believe that there is the appointment for the return match (Editor’s note: it is scheduled for the weekend of April 2, 2022) to see if we have attracted, or not.
So you still think of Toulouse?
We think of the match against Brive, of course. When you take a bubble like that, 41 points to 0, it hurts. You can bow your head, ruminate, complain, make excuses. This is not our case. We are moving forward and getting back to work, but to work, you have to set yourself small goals. It is part of our objectives to see the progress that we will have made when we find the Toulouse residents. Until then we will have time to talk about it again, but for the moment we are still upset. When you get fucked like that, it’s part of the pro job.
You say that you also think of Brive, what more precisely?
I still have in mind the first leg of last year when the Brivists came to hit us in Pierre-Fabre. (Editor’s note: on December 22, 2020, Brive won 25-24 at Castres). This match hurt me personally. We were in the rough at that time. We had our heads under water and the Brivists pressed us on. I remember the day after this match when I wondered if I still really wanted to play rugby. When it comes to this it’s complicated.
How do you judge this formation from Brive?
It’s a great team, full of values, of warriors, like their captain Saïd Hirèche, whom I have met for many years in the field. His team looks like him.