After the MHR's bonus victory against the Lions (28-5) on the 3rd day of Challenge, this Saturday, January 11 at the GGL Stadium, Lenni Nouchi, Joan Caudllo and Alexis Bernadet appeared before the press.
Lenni Nouchi (MHR captain): “The mission was accomplished. The coach asked us to bring home the victory, and that's what we did. We managed to get the bonus. It's true that it took us a while to get our hands on the ball and to be able to string together playing time, because they're a very dense team, which made us fall back quite a few times. We had to keep the ball and produce the play we wanted to produce. So, it took a long time to set up, but at the end of the match, it paid off and it's satisfying.”
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Joan Caudullo (MHR manager): “It took a while, but the contract has been fulfilled. The disallowed try of the 14-0 makes us a little upset. Because the try is beautiful, already. It's a bit of a shame. What's interesting is that we see facets in our game that are evolving. I think the guys are working well in training, and it's visible today. We continue to put pressure on the opponent. Because we were facing a good team. And I think we're managing to build our actions a little more. We're playing a little more in contact, things we didn't do at the start of the season. There are reasons to be satisfied with this match.”
“I was a little burned”
Alexis Bernadet (MHR scrum-half): “We knew that it was a fairly dense team, very strong in 1-on-1. We saw it in the first half, we came up against walls, it was a bit complicated. But we still knew how to move the ball in the second half, play after contact. I think that's what made us strong in this match, to keep the ball alive, sometimes a bit too much. That's why there were a lot of wastes. But I would say that the key was to move the ball, to play in the middle, to pick up the ball, to make offloads. That's what made us win today. In this match, there was a lot of rhythm, a lot of dropped balls, quite long sequences. I admit that I was a little burned out. I think all the players were like that. But that's what I like, because I like it when there's movement. The Challenge is the club's goal. In the past, it's given the team a boost of confidence when things were going badly in the Top 14. Now, if we can bring the two competitions together, that would be great. That's the goal. We're not putting it aside.”