"Be there in terms of engagement, especially engagement"

How did it go this week after the defeat conceded last Friday?

"The week has necessarily been complicated. I think first of all for the players. We didn't even need video feedback to know we missed the event. It's been three days a little complicated to digest. But I think the best way to move forward and move on is to project yourself directly into the Carcassonne game. The chance in top-level sport is to be able to quickly question yourself and move on to something else. Now we're playing on Thursday. We're the first game of the day. We didn't even have a full week to ruminate about this game. We went straight back to work on Sunday morning. Of course, it creaked. It's not normal, at half-time, when you win 20 to 3, to collapse like that, and to take 20 points to 0 in the second half. We are determined to get a quick recovery and launch our season this weekend."

Have there been any changes this week from what was planned?

"The video feedback was pretty hard. Afterwards, we must not question everything about this poor performance. There have also been some good things. The problem, I think, is that it was mostly psychological. We let the game slip by, but we didn't react. It is up to us to correct this quickly. It is also up to us, the game leaders, to take responsibility. You shouldn't question everything after just one game. There are still many more to go. We are coming out of a season that has been difficult and trying. We may still have some after-effects from last season. It's up to us to react quickly and grow to get into this championship very quickly."

To do this, you go to Carcassonne on Thursday. It's not necessarily easy to win away from home?

"Yes, it's very rare. We can see that this championship has tightened considerably over the last two years, when we were there. The gaps are narrowing every time. We see that Carcassonne made a big performance against Vannes, who was a semi-finalist last year. As we know, it is also a team that prepared very early on. Having had some former players (from the FCG) playing there, we know that they started their preparation very early. I think they were up to speed right from the start of the championship. They have a big first block. It seems to me that after us, they play Biarritz and Mont-de-Marsan. They have a big first block that will allow them to immediately know where they will be in this Pro D2. And I think they're going to want to win their first two home games. Yes, wins on the outside, they're very hard to come by. Now we lost a home game. So we're going to have to go quickly and get some points elsewhere. To confirm the first block."

Will your behaviour on the field be more important than a victory?

"I think that, through good behaviour, we will seek a good result. So I think that in the first half we played our game, but we can also notice that we were not at the top of aggressiveness either. And that, in this championship, it is not enough to have beautiful launches, a beautiful game system. First you have to put the ingredients into it in the fight. The Columérins have been patient. They have done good coaching. And they picked us cold in the second half, when we had a little bit of a break in the fight. A team like Carcassonne is a team used to the Pro D2, which has been improving in recent years, a team with very experienced players, who know the championship very well, a big team of warriors. They'll be waiting for us on that. They put Vannes in trouble for that. In relation to aggressiveness. And by putting a lot of volume into the game. It is up to us to be present. It's up to us to disturb them. It's an away game. It's not up to us to make the game. We have to have a big fight first. A big game in management. And if we put these ingredients together, we may be able to bring back points from this move."

This championship does not allow any relaxation.

"No, no, of course, this championship does not allow for any relaxation. As I said, it's a championship where the level increases every season. It is not only the Top 14 that is progressing. The two professional championships, and Federal 1, are also progressing. We see teams like Aix-en-Provence, who, for their first season in Pro D2 last year, coming from Fédérale 1, finished eighth. It's really a proof of the quality of the teams that are building. And the clubs are more and more armed. And also increasingly better prepared. So, yes, that was the particularity we had two years ago. It's that the teams don't give up anything. And more particularly, when you're the team that goes down from the Top 14, all the players in the league want to take points against us. We can't afford to let go at any time. Let this be a lesson to us. It was the first game. We may have only one joker at home in the season. We burned him. There, it's done. Now, these are all ready-made sentences. We must react immediately. I hope we will. That's what we worked for. At least, it is in the mentality in which we are going to move to Carcassonne. To respond to the commitment. Above all, first of all, in commitment."