"Play the rugby we'd like to do"

Did you make any changes compared to last week's game?

"No, not necessarily in what we've been trying to put in place since the beginning of the preparation: we have a game plan, a game system and a way of playing that we would like to put in place. During the first match against Provence Rugby, there were moments when we saw what we would like to do. In the second match, it was a little more complicated, since we were really under pressure against a very good Lyon team. For us, it's about seeing some players we haven't seen yet. But above all to try to play the rugby that we would like to do. »

You announced several firsts for tonight.

"Taï Tuifu'a, Steven Setephano, Ali Oz and Hans Nkinsi will play. They made a good pre-season. But, unfortunately, by the fact that they've started late with us or that they had small bumps, we decided to keep them away for another week. That's why we haven't seen them yet. »

In front, there were good things in the melee, an irregular line-out and difficulties on the mauls. You expect the best, especially in these last two areas?

"This are the basics. We have already seen the first positive results of Jean-Noël Perrin's work on melee. It's no accident it's better. He wants to go even further. The players work hard. We are going to put a lot more emphasis this season in this area. We have players for that. If we can work collectively with our front line players, it will be good. We will be a fearful, non-targeted melee, as we may have been last season. For me, on the line-outs, there are still inaccuracies, but I'm not super worried. These are games that we have prepared with not necessarily much attention on our opponents. There are also the new players who have to enter our line-out system, which challenges the players who arrived, compared to their habits. The big area where we expect more work and success is the mauls. We did a lot of work on it at the beginning of the season, there are some positive things. But it's mainly about defending the scrums... In the first two games, we took three tries in this sector. You need a lot of pride in defending the mauls. The focus this week has been on this sector, particularly in everyone's role. I hope that this weekend it will be better executed. But it's still a state of mind. »

Are you looking forward to the beginning of the championship?

"I think that we, the staff, like the players, want to get to the heart of the matter. Are we ready? Like any coach, we would always like 2, 3, 4 more weeks to prepare our team. But, here we are, the championship is starting and we have to attack as best we can. Although we're off to a good start, I think our team still has a lot of room for improvement. We'll get better all season long. By the 26th round, there will be an image of progress, which will be visible to all. »