Top 14. Ange Capuozzo’s first words in Toulouse: “I know I’m going to be in trouble”
By Simon Galinier
Published on
It will be one of the attractions of the 2022-2023 season of Top 14 which opens this Saturday, September 3: the Italian nugget Angel Capuozzo (23 years old; 5 selections) has signed up until 2025 with Toulouseafter having sparked with Grenoble in Pro D2 for the past three years.
Freshly arrived in the Pink City, the player trained in Claix Bridge (Isère) delivered its first impressions on the website of the Rouge et Noir club. Ange Capuozzo explains that he signed at Stade Toulousain, because it is “the club with the biggest track record” and that it represents for him, “the best of French and European rugby”. “I’m looking forward to learning at this great institution, alongside the excellent players already there. Stade Toulousain embodies ambition, precision and greatness,” added the Italian international.
“I feel that expectations are high around me”
After revealing himself to the eyes of the whole world during the 6 Nations Tournament 2022 with the Squadra Azzurra, by planting a double for his first selection against Scotland then by being at the origin of the winning try in Wales, with an action of anthology, Ange Capuzzo is aware that he will be expected at the turn in the Top 14 and in the Champions Cup, two competitions that he will discover with Toulouse, since he has only 18 minutes of Top 14, with Grenoble, in 2019:
Of course, the excitement is very real. Today, I feel that expectations are high around me. They are higher than before the 6 Nations Tournament, but that motivates me more to respond to the present. The attachment to the jersey is essential in my opinion and I will give the best of myself for Toulouse. (…) I know that I will face the best players in my position and that I will be put in difficulty. I approach this season as a huge challenge, stimulating, which will allow me to progress personally.
“To take and accept the workload of the Top 14 to compete on the field”
An outstanding striker, the one who defines himself as a “player who likes to attack spaces” seems totally in line with the DNA of Stade Toulousain, which lends a game made of speed and initiative. “Toulouse’s system gives players freedom, whether in 15 or on the wing. Today, I am versatile and I want to maintain this strength to play as many matches as possible, ”he underlines.
In a stadium staff studded with internationals and where competition is raging in all lines, in particular in the Italian’s two favorite positions, winger and fullback (Lebel, Retière, Delibes, Tauzin, Bonneval, Ramos, Jaminet, Mallia or even the young Descamps, very interesting during the preparation match against Toulon), Ange Capuzzo says that the challenge promises to be immense to win his place, but he does not want to skip the stages:
My main goal is to learn. I discover a new division, which I do not know, and I have to apprehend the confrontation with new teams, with seasoned players. More precisely, I want to progress on all my individual technique, because the game will require precision, due to its speed and intensity.
The Isérois also says he is “pleasantly surprised by the welcome given by the supporters of the Rouge et Noir, a knowledgeable and demanding public, which gives him a lot of warmth and appetite before starting the season”. Finally, he explains that he is adapting “little by little” to his new Toulouse environment and “starting to insert the rhythm that a preparation for the Top 14 requires”. “It’s more intense than that of Pro D2, which it is up to me to cash in and accept this workload to compete on the field,” admits Capuozzo. We now have only one hurry: to see him start in an official match in his new colors. This could be the case, this Sunday, September 4 (9:05 p.m.), for the shock of the 1before Top 14 day against UBB.
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