"Five minutes to the end, I did not believe in the bonus point"

What is your view of your team's performance against Nevers?

"There have been some good things. Very good things from the boys. Very, very good starts, first, second half. After that, I think that in the last quarter of an hour, the 20 minutes of the first half, we had a little too much offensive waste. We put a lot of volume into the game, but we were a little impatient. That's why we released a little too many balloons. Even, defensively, I think we were impatient. We've been penalized a little too much. After that, we made a good start again in the second half. Then, indeed, what I liked was the state of mind we had to get the offensive bonus. Whereas, quite honestly, with 5 minutes to go, we had to score twice.... When they score their third try, quite honestly, I don't believe it at all. Because there is too little time left. Because we're at 14. And then, miracle. They went to get their thing. Congratulations to them. "

Did you score on some dazzling offensive sequences?

"Yes, we are able to put, at certain times, a lot of speed, a lot of activity, a lot of movement. It's a very positive game against a great team. They had come in full. They came to upset us. And at halftime, we felt like we were having a real rugby match. The boys were a little marked. Apparently, they recovered well during the half. Since, from the beginning of the second half, we score twice. It's a good game. It's a great victory, before the five days we give them a vacation. This is important. We just finished the second block. We have 30 points. We're first. We are building our season. And I think the guys don't want to give up. They want to stay at the top. That's interesting. "

You are now at 3 consecutive bonus-point victories....

"Series in progress. We'll see when it stops. I think it'll be complicated on the next one. What I like about it is that I think the team is evolving well. In the mastery of our games, we become a little more of an off-road team, though. In the management of our games. We're not just adding volume, we've had a few phases where we still had to defend well. It was necessary to put a little game on the foot. We're smarter in the game. We're taking some bottles. And then, the fact that there are a lot of young players who were there two years ago, who started out as professionals... Who we're doing a season of Pro D2. Who made a Top 14 season. Today, the experience makes me feel that the level of the team is rising. The state of mind is there. The guys are at the meeting. I was a little worried after the Colomiers and Mont-de-Marsan game. I figured we had air holes. These are the two games we lost this season, which costs us a lot of money on two air holes of 10 minutes or less. Where we get the points. And the games are getting away from us. But I think that in any case, on weak times, we react well. I think we're smart in our weak times. We're good at our high points. That's interesting. You have to keep that consistency. That's always the hard part. But maybe we got her. I hope so, anyway, I hope. "

How can we avoid starting the next block with a defeat?

"If we start like the first two, but finish like the first two, maybe we'll sign up for that. First of all, we'll have a tough game, though, in Vannes. Even if you're warned, and even if you want to play a good game, you're not sure you can win that game. The guys will arrive rested. We'll prepare him well. We're still going to run a little bit more, at 1, 2, 3 stations. As we have been doing since the beginning of the season. To keep this emulation. To keep the players under pressure. Vannes, at home, it's a team that really holds its ground. Who has a little more trouble on the move. But who really holds up at home. Two years ago, we won at the last minute. It will have to be well prepared, of course, like all the others. Let's see if we can finally start an OR. It will be an interesting challenge. 
Certainly, in the sequence of games, yes. After that, I know we're able to get out of big games against any team. Today, against Nevers, who had come in full, who had come to upset us. We were able to react in Carcassonne, in Aix-en-Provence, places where it is still difficult. I know we're able to get out of big games against these teams. Once again, what we're going to put into it, the consistency of our level.... Will we be able to stay at the same level for 4 weeks against teams that have respondents? It's going to be another challenge, it's going to be interesting for us. To see where we stand. "

Are you expecting injured players or internationals to return for the game in Vannes?

"For Leva, for Andrei Ostrikov, it may be a little early. They're coming back with us on Saturday morning, the 26th. I think that by the time they assimilate the whole system again, the keys, the announcements... It may take a little while. Then maybe Bastien Guillemin, who can come back, who was a little hurt. He had a crutch from last week, plus a small ankle sprain, which he did earlier this week. Then there is Steven Setephano, who is starting to get better. So, we'll see about that. I think it's still a little early for Eric. We were hoping to start the third block. To give him a little bit of play time. But I think we may have to wait until the middle or end of the block, we'll see. "

How do you rate the youngsters' performance on this game?

"Already, for the hinge, Corentin had played here against Romans. We brought him in because we knew that if at some point.... Enzo can't play all 30 games. For the moment, Enzo is a little ahead of the others in the hierarchy of 10. We knew that Enzo couldn't do all 30 games, because at some point you have to keep it running. Because at some point, there may also be injuries, as is the case this week. Franck, we know his level, we've already had him with us. And, Corentin, we needed to see him. That's why, against Romans, we had to put it down right from the start. Corentin, today he was fine. He was fine in his role. In the offensive animation. In the defense. Jeremy too, I think he's having a very good start to the season. He's gaining confidence. He has some game ends, where he goes home, he's an attending. He only started outdoors at the beginning of the season. He had played in Aix-en-Provence, he had played in Mont-de-Marsan. He had been good. And I thought it was a fair reward to have him start a game at home. I think both were very good. Then, for Ange, it's a completely different profile from Gaëtan. But it brings us a lot offensively. He's a player who smells like rugby. Who is comfortable with the ball. Who has very good timing in the line. Who thinks about playing others. But I am not surprised by his performance. Last week, I don't know if you asked me to do that, but everyone was a little surprised by his tenure. Then I can understand it too. Because he's not a player who, for the moment, had come home with us. But we have it in training. We have it every day at practice. When I decide to play Angel, I don't say to myself one day, when I get up one morning, here, the kid is with us in training, we'll see what he's worth in the game. It's because in training, I see that he makes differences, I see that in training, he does things that are very interesting, and I see that, compared to others, he has the level. At some point, I think it's time. (...) I'm happy, he's a good rugby player. He's a good rugby player. Which is complete. Smells like rugby again. Who has very good timing in the line. Which doesn't have many flaws. Who played two games. I told him, the hardest thing sometimes is not the first, it's not the second. It's the next part. When you're good once... Sometimes the first game is often the easiest. Because we're in it. Often, a first is successful. The second one is often successful too. Then, after that, you have to do a series of good performances. And we wait for the player at a level.... As the first one is often successful, as the second one too, here, he will do it every time.... Besides, it doesn't always work like that. Again, I'm talking about consistency for the team. But there is also an individual consistency that must be maintained. And Angel, he's gonna have to compete on that level. Because we expect it at that level too. But he is able to do it because he is a good rugby player. "

The FCG is the best attack of the championship. 

"After that, we would have won 6-3, I would have been very happy. Very honestly. I'm not too much stats attack, stats defense. That's not what I'm looking at, quite honestly. What I look at, even if I try not to take too much of a look at it, I know that once I'm in it, I look at it every day... It's more like the British ranking. I'm more of a British ranking. Then I do calculations and everything. But for the moment, I'm trying not to project myself too much, because we're at the beginning of the season. For the attack, so much the better, if today we are the best attack. Maybe we'll finish third in the championship, maybe we'll finish fifth. Maybe we'll finish first. I think we've seen some interesting things today, anyway. I think that last year, even if we lacked realism. I think we saw some interesting things last year. But we lacked realism. I think the real difference with last year is that we're able to put in some game volume. But that we're much more realistic. The level is also, certainly. The Pro D2, the Top 14. But the situation is clear. Today, we score 6 times and we don't have 15 chances. We have 7, 8. The games we won in Angoulême, we score 3 times, we have 4 chances. In Aix-en-Provence, it's the same. Maybe we have one more chance to score. That's what interests me most. It means we're really evolving on this. I really regretted last year that we were often in the end zone, or very close to the line, without scoring. That we were a little unrealistic. And I think this year we found this. Is that a progression? Is it the level that is not quite the same? I hope we'll have an answer next year. "