Top 14. Matthis Lebel (Toulouse): “At 3/4, it was sometimes quite empty last year”
By Clement Mazella
Published on
Retained with the XV of France in Japan last summer, Mathis Lebel has necessarily in a corner of the head the World Cup 2023. But the winger (4 selections), who regained efficiency at the end of last season, does not want to skip the stages. Above all, he is focused on his season with his club, the Toulouse stadiumwhere he will have to face a big competition.
News: Matthis, the season is starting, but it has a double objective for you: to face competition that has accumulated as a winger in Toulouse, and the 2023 World Cup where you are close to the Blues…
Mathis Lebel: I’ll just handle this. The first thing is that I will think about the club, try to string together good performances, and manage to be good in the collective. Things will come by themselves. Or, not at all. The most important thing is to leave with the club, to enjoy, to have fun and to play as much as possible, despite this big competition.
Comment on sees things when you see such competition in his position?
ML: When you are a competitor, you say to yourself that you will first have to find your place. But also question yourself and get back to work. It’s a good thing I think. With hindsight, we realized that last year, in key matches, we were short of people in certain positions, and we had to fill them. At 3/4, sometimes it was quite empty. In training, we barely had enough to line up. You are obliged today to have a workforce with the depth to hold a season as correctly as possible.
The club made an XXL recruitment at 3/4. Did you ever feel that it brought something to the level of the game?
ML: For now, they give their individual qualities. But it will be above all up to them to adapt to the game of the Stadium that we want to produce. It is not the Stadium that will adapt to individualities. It’s always been like that here.
There, we are no longer champions of anything, and the best motivation is to seek a title, not to be revengeful.
Having lost your two semi-finals last year, does that make you feel a sense of revenge?
ML: A feeling of revenge? I do not know. I think you have to know how to sweep in front of your door compared to the season before. There, we are no longer champions of anything, and the best motivation is to seek a title, not to be revengeful. There are winners every year. What we want is to live adventures, and live it to the fullest in the hope of winning something.
Does a successful season pass given by a title, especially given the standing of recruitment?
ML: It depends on the club you play for. Some would already be happy to make a half of Top 14 or European Cup. Inevitably, we are competitors, and when we see the quality of our staff or our workforce, we say to ourselves that we want to go for a title. Of course, we won’t win every year, but there will be regrets when you lose two halves in the same season. We are going to start again, the club has done what is necessary to strengthen itself, now the mayonnaise has to take. And the road will be long before the final stages.
Matthis, the season is just starting, but asked that in the back of your mind, when you’re international like you, you think of the 2023 World Cup. You got it with the Blues in Japan this summer: how do you judge your two games there?
ML: The World Cup is near, but also far at the same time. I don’t think you should be mistaken: if you want to be in the right papers, you have to perform well at the club. And good performances, it goes through daily investment, playing the maximum and being good for the club. If the latter turns out well, we have more chances to shine individually. All that is a path that starts from the club. In Japan, the goal was two victories to follow up this incredible series of successes. The content, in terms of results, is very positive.
At the winger’s position, two players seem settled, but behind there is room to be part of the group. Do you think you are part of it?
ML: That’s not for me to decide…
I feel that I learned a lot by not putting my head upside down when I went several games without scoring. I think it will help me for this season.
Personally, you scored less last season than the one before. Did that leave you hungry?
ML: At the end of the season, I still scored more. But like all wingers, we would like to score 1, 2, 3 or 4 tries every weekend. But the reality is not so. I feel that I learned a lot by not putting my head upside down when I went several games without scoring. I think it will help me for this season.
Toulouse only made one friendly match this summer. We are surprised that the clubs play less now. Do you think your team is ready enough to get into the Top 14 this Saturday against Bordeaux?
ML: We already play about thirty matches a year. If we have to add 2 or 3, in the end, it can become very long. One match is good, two is not a problem. But not more. The virtue of the friendly match, it is for young people who can assess with the First. But apart from that, this meeting does not offer the same sensations as a real championship match, especially on the impacts or the rhythm. It’s halved. We trained 15 against 15. We will be in the nails.
Matthis, there is a regional rivalry in football between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Is she now coming to rugby, is she stronger and do you feel it?
ML: The rivalry, it is exacerbated by the media rivalry and with the era of social networks, where everything goes faster. Yes, the fervor is rising, it’s not unpleasant, it’s a spectacle and it brings people to the stadium. After that, it’s just a simple rugby match. Whether Bordeaux or Paris, we will be expected everywhere. We don’t want to worry about thinking it’s Bordeaux. No need to make big stories.
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