2024-01-06 10:01:00

If he appreciated the match produced by his team, which won hands down in Biarritz (8-23), the CAB manager, Pierre-Henry Broncan, especially liked the performance of certain players who were inside for a few meetings.

Did you feel unsinkable this evening?

When they come back to score and they score this try in the second half, we have a little slump. Afterwards, sincerely, I think that we had a strong match, a bit like the one we had in Colomiers. There, we weren’t rewarded, because like tonight, we didn’t score too many points. Tonight, we were strong defensively and we were able to play rugby. The ball was dry and easy to handle, despite the conditions and the pitch being a bit heavy. I think we have pretty solid foundations, a good scrum, a good touch, good mauls. The defense today is improving and then we have turnover balls to play with our young players, who are capable of playing them well, even if they make mistakes two or three times today. The more they practice and gain confidence, the more they will score.

But still ?

There were good level performances from certain players, who were really into it at the start of the season. I’m thinking of our Fijian winger (Tuivuaka), who played a big game this evening, the other Fijian in the second line (Ratuva) confirms following the good match in Vannes. Samy Arnold, Rahboni Vosayaco, our foreigners are playing at their level. It’s important for the team and the club.

Is it an almost perfect match, in the sense that it might have been perfect if you had been more realistic in the first half?

The match would have been perfect if Rahboni scored the last try. Tonight there were six changes quite early, it’s a 23 player victory. We almost made a bench at 8-0. Loan Lavergne was to be a replacement in place of Tom Raffy and Benjamin Lefranc, who came on the wing, is a third row. We were supposed to bring in 7 forwards in the 50th minute, that was the plan, but Loan was injured during the last training session.

Listening to you, you really wanted to stifle the soundtrack and prevent it from playing, behind…

We feared this team a lot, which really has quality players. Simon Mannix will bring an offensive touch, as he did in Pau. Besides that, we also feared their conquest, because she makes very good mauls, has a good scrum. But we prepared well for that. But the hardest part for us is now.

For what ?

Brive is a great rugby city. Tomorrow, at the market, our players are going to have a huge head, because everyone is going to praise them and that is a big danger, because we are going to host Rouen who lost at home. Rugby is a complicated sport. Tonight, we put in the ingredients to have a good match, we put in fight and precision. If we don’t have that next Friday once morest Rouen, we’re going to be pissed.

You talk regarding precision, in the rucks you scratched seven balls…

It’s a sector that we work on a lot. In each training session, there is work on this. This evening, we had 10 scrums for 200 rucks. So of course, the scrum remains important, but the ruck remains a place where you have to be, offensively, capable of having very close and effective support. Defensively, it’s a transition zone and for the referee, it’s easy to referee, because it’s static. We were clean in the rucks and in discipline.

Do you feel like you’re making progress?

We are in the right direction, because the boys are working. Deep down there is a good state of mind. I gave them a huge shout out at the pre-match meeting. I think I was very hard on some players at the hotel. I am convinced that we have potential, but we have players who were not playing to 100% of their potential, who were not necessarily invested in the club’s objective or in the team. Tonight, this mission is validated, but I repeat, rugby is an extremely difficult sport. It’s a combat sport and we’ll have to get back in the saddle on Sunday. It’s important to work on weekends. The first Sunday we trained, the players gathered at the end. They said “it pisses everyone off to come on Sunday”. I listened to them, I was nearby. I replied to them: “Do you know what to do to avoid coming on Sunday?” One told me that we had to win. No, you have to go and play in the Top 14, since the matches are on Saturday. We are in Pro D2. We play on Friday and return to the field on Sunday. It is mandatory. Rugby is a combat sport that requires training. Otherwise, we’ll play at the lower level, we train twice and that’s enough.

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