Top 14 – Saga Toulouse – Clément Poitrenaud: “There is a new internal emulation”
The technician goes back to the rugby content offered by the Stadium last season, the need to evolve and the impact of the looming World Cup, among others.
Looking back two months, how do you view the previous year, beyond the results?
The season may seem less successful than the previous ones in terms of content and rugby offered but not everything is to be thrown away either, there were some interesting sequences in particular. On the whole, we remain unsatisfied with regard to what had been achieved the years before and the ambitions that are ours.
How do you explain it?
As often, it’s a combination of factors, not just one thing, that explains this. Our status, because of the double, had further evolved. We were even more expected everywhere and all the time. There are external circumstances which we have spoken of and which have not facilitated our task. And then there are technical problems that we encountered that we will have to solve to find our game.
Is there therefore a questioning within the staff?
Yes, there is a global reflection on rugby that we want to propose, strategically, mentally, at the level of collective and individual ambitions. We must not neglect any parameter to trigger a new dynamic. We want to offer something strong. With the newcomers behind, there will be a balance and automatisms to find so that the machine starts.
Precisely, behind, you seem much more armed than last year…
There is a massive influx of recruits, yes. It had been thought of in the medium term, with elements that we had been following for some time. We knew it would be a pivotal season from this point of view. Especially since there had been departures which were not imposed, in particular that of Cheslin Kolbe. It’s not a new chapter but there is a change taking place, mainly behind it.
Qualitatively, you win but this competition poses an equation…
Over the past three or four years, there have been few recruitments. By force of circumstance, it was necessary to take on players. It will require human management but when I see the quality of the guys and their temperament, it’s a chance and not a problem. There will be a new in-house emulation, more speed and solutions at our disposal. Last year, there were injuries at bad times in the season and that caused staffing problems.
How do you view the proximity of the World Cup?
It depends on the point of view that we adopt. Internally, we think this is more of an opportunity than a problem. We have a lot of guys involved, for whom it will be a strong individual objective. Their performances must enable them to be ready. The objectives, individual and collective, do not go without the other. If everything works out, it will be positive.
The objectives have not yet been announced by the management but we imagine that the Stadium will want to do better than half …
In my memory, the French champion teams in recent years have often had great difficulty the following season. We have been to the semi-finals twice. Is it a bad season or have we done the maximum of what we could? Is this a season that many would settle for? What is certain is that we all want to go further in competitions.