Pierre Gayraud, the FCG's second line, looks back on the defeat at Aurillac and the group's ambitions against Montauban
Are you angry after the defeat in the Cantal?
"I wouldn't say angry, I would say vengeful. In relation to ourselves, our performance. What we did in Aurillac, we know, among ourselves, that it wasn't us. Today, we will have to be vengeful. And to do things the way they should be done. And not put the cart before the horse. (...) Being angry sometimes helps. But most of the time, it makes you do things not as they should be done. So you get into trouble and you can do anything. Now you're going to have to be vindictive. Like I said. Put the right ingredients in. Put everything we worked on in place during the game. And after that, envy, that's going to be the most important thing. Especially after the performance in Aurillac. »
Did you understand what happened in Aurillac?
"Yes, we understood it. We understood that Aurillac was present at the game. It doesn't matter what team names, player names, whatever. When you go out on the field, the one who has the most desire is often the one who wins. We've seen it from the start. When on the first scrum, you go back. Let them go for the penalty kick and give it a try. From then on, they had gained confidence. Maybe we had lost it a bit. From there on, it becomes a little more complicated. Now it's up to us to reverse things, to learn the lessons of this trip to Aurillac and use that to move forward throughout the season. »
The key word of the week was "reaction"?
"Yes, reaction. Afterwards, it's boring to always say reaction. Because if you say reaction, often it's because something happened just before. But, as we said among ourselves, this is still the second game of the season. There's still some left. It's up to us to make things right. And as I said just before, it's to use that to move forward through the season and grow as well to have a great season. »
Will this defeat serve you well?
"Yes, it will. We'll learn from it. We have to learn from this. We came to Aurillac, maybe with a desire to win. And then we didn't have the necessary ingredients. And you can't win if you don't have the necessary ingredients. »
Montauban showed a great strength of character last weekend...
"Even, I remember we lost in Montauban last year. At home, we won, but we had a hard time. We mustn't take ourselves for others. All Pro D2 teams are capable of winning outdoors or at home. Montauban is a team that we will have to respect a lot. And especially that the performance they made against Biarritz is quite remarkable. We'll have to put the necessary ingredients in place to calm down the Montalbanians' ardor and put our game down. »
Auteur : FCG Rugby