#RugbyPro #Final #group #Mons #coach #Patrick #Milhet
Don’t lose it, but take 50 points, it’s possible. About the match, there is absolutely nothing to say. We met a very good team from Bayonne, they caught us in all areas of the game, we tried to rebel at the scrum but suffered crashes. I have not found my team, especially in the defensive phases. Today there was a gap split.
Your season was magnificent, the outcome is cruel, even if it’s not over…
It is the law of sport. If we had to redo it…
Don’t lose it, but take 50 points, it’s possible. About the match, there is absolutely nothing to say. We met a very good team from Bayonne, they caught us in all areas of the game, we tried to rebel at the scrum but suffered crashes. I have not found my team, especially in the defensive phases. Today there was a gap split.
Your season was magnificent, the outcome is cruel, even if it’s not over…
It is the law of sport. If I had to do it again, I would still go back to the final. It was a good poster. We weren’t there to offer a good game, unlike Bayonnais. We were first in the regular phase. Four or five years ago we would have been champions. Not today. We may have come across, during the season, teams that were missing players. In November, when we beat Bayonnais at home, they are missing a lot of players. I said it after the match: we benefited from certain injuries. However, he had announced that they would be in the last four. They did better: they are champions!
Did inexperience in the final play a role in this match?
Personally, it’s the room I live in. There are quite a few players who have also experienced them. The Stade Montois is used to the final stages, the play-offs… We have young players, Bayonnais too. Today we didn’t know how to make our framework work with the desired intensity.
Didn’t you recognize your team?
No. All this season we had defensive aggressiveness, we knew how to suffocate the rival. Today I felt like we were watching them play. The same with the ball: we could have kept it for a quarter of an hour without scoring. We never put them in danger.
How to explain this lack of aggressiveness during a final?
Maybe the guys thought after beating them twice this year that it would be easy. I have trouble understanding it. I’ll have to talk it over with the executives, see what caused this lack of aggressiveness. In rugby, without aggressiveness, you lose, especially in the final phase.
Is it related to the match bet?
It’s possible. Looking back, we’ll have to watch the video, analyze this match, see what went wrong. More peut-être que l’enjeu a joué sur certains petits détails, comme cet engagement directly in Yoann’s touch (Laousse-Azpiazu, NDLR), certaines choses qui font que quand on donne des billes à une équipe aussi complète, on est rapidement in difficulty. In the first half we were penalized nine times, all three. More yellow in seconds. No, we couldn’t compete.
You were particularly caught up in the rucks…
(cuts) Everywhere. They took us in all sectors. From time to time we had a scrum that worked… But that’s about it. Bayonne really wanted to get the shield back and she did.
Bayonne defender Gaëtan Germain did a lot of damage, especially to his foot.
It’s Gaëtan. He is a player who has this profile. When he was at Brive, it was the same. He is used to big matches, whether they are maintenance or finals, we can trust him. The great players shine in the great moments. Today we have seen a great Gaëtan Germain. But Maqala and Ravouvou and the Bayonne strikers also hurt us a lot.
We must already consider the dam on Sunday June 12. How to remobilize the troops?
Honestly, we weren’t ready for that. One more week… I thought I was on vacation tonight (laughs). He will go through recovery tomorrow, before a restart on Tuesday. It was heartbreaking to make the team today, we had 39 players for 23 places. I think we are going to rotate, bring energy, freshness for the access match. we are going to prepare
You talk about freshness, is it physically what they took you today?
No. The opponent was better. The fatigue of the season has not influenced. We did a lot of rotation. Few players are at their wits’ end. We can only congratulate the bayonnais who knew how to take us. Congratulations to them.
We feel disappointed. Is there still envy before this last match?
Disappointed No. But I feel sorry for this group. There has really been a chemistry within this team. I would have been happy if it was worth it. This is my sixteenth year at Mont-de-Marsan, but the first in which I have so many feelings with my players. There was true friendship, love between them. This is what our strength did. Although we are the penultimate payroll, they have shown that great things can be done with heart and values. I’m sorry for them.
Is this the worst disappointment of your career?
No, it was rather the Toulouse final (16-15 loss to Agen in the access final in 2015, editor’s note), which lacked the transformation. There, they really took me. Tonight, there were no photos.