Toulouse. Gijs Jorna: “Giving yourself comfort”
Disappointing in the league, Toulouse only have the Cup to save their season. Facing Tours, the grand favorite, the Toulouse captain wants to believe in the feat.
Gijs, in what state of mind do you approach this round of 16 against what is being done best in France this season?
We are going to start a new competition and that must breathe new energy into the team. We are living a really difficult season with injured or sick players and results far from our objectives. Against Tours, which is the indisputable number 1 in France, we will have nothing to lose.
On paper, your chances still seem minimal…
In the league match against them we had a ball to go two sets to nothing producing a quality game. We couldn’t keep up the pace (3-1 defeat, editor’s note) but we know we can annoy them. In the Cup, whatever the sport, there is always a surprise team and our objective is precisely to be this surprise team. Maybe Tours expects an easy game, but we will do our best to give them as many worries as possible. If Tours is 100% it will be very complicated, but if this is not the case and if, on our side, we are at full speed, we will have to seize this opportunity.
Can the negative pressure of the play-downs which will begin at the end of this Coupe de France prevent the group from playing this competition completely liberated?
We have already known for two weeks that we will not participate in the play-offs, so we had time to digest that. None of us wanted to play these play-downs, but we are professionals and we have to assume because the most important thing for the future of the club is to stay in Ligue A. We have to show our character and refuse to imagine going down to Ligue B. We’ve been playing better for a few weeks and we have to rely on that to ensure the essentials. But before thinking about that, we will give everything to offer ourselves a little comfort with this Coupe de France.
Digested, the ENNE European disappointment?
Beaten in the first leg to Monza (0-3) ten days ago, the Tourangeaux failed to reverse the trend in the CEV final and lost on Wednesday evening (0-3). “Perhaps we will be able to take advantage of some form of relaxation on their part,” Gijs Jorna told us. Initially scheduled last night, this round of 16 was finally postponed by 24 hours to give Tours time to recover. Sufficient ? Spacer’s hope not…