Stuart Hogg et les Montpelliérains ont enchaîné un 5e succès consécutif. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON
Victorieux avec le bonus offensif contre Bayonne (42-10), les joueurs du MHR et leur coach étaient satisfaits de leur prestation lors de cette 14e journée de Top 14, ce samedi 4 janvier.
Joan Caudullo, manager du MHR :“Winning like we did, I think it's good. Stringing together victories, I think it's good. It's the fifth in a row with the Challenge. I'm proud of the players, of what they were able to do, because it wasn't easy at the start of the season. And I have the feeling that today, they want to play for more than just staying up. I promised them, I'll stop talking about it. Today, it's five points, so it's perfect for us. I think it's a foundation that we built and they've never failed. Since the La Rochelle match, I've never had the feeling that we're missing out on that.”
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Alexandre Bécognée (MHR 3rd row): “It's a team that's reunited. I think that the work of the whole group, the staff, the players means that we've come together and are united on the pitch. And that's felt in the moments when we have to work collectively. When they come back at the start of the second half, we tended to overplay, to think we were a bit too good. We had to go back to basics and put the dominance back in the areas of defence, the scrum, the ball carries. And then, we can allow ourselves to play. We didn't do that too much at the start of the second half and then, we were able to get back into the flow of the game. It was pretty positive.”
Arthur Vincent (MHR centre):“It's been a while since we've had this kind of feeling. It's great. Last week in Clermont was a bit the same. It's great to be able to experience this kind of moment all together. The whole group, the 40 guys… We had studied Bayonne's game carefully. We tried to see the opportunities, what could work, etc. It was crucial to follow up, to validate this victory in Clermont with a win at home. We knew it was a super important match. It could potentially turn our season around. In any case, to do ourselves some good and validate the move we made in Clermont. It was about working, being focused, having a serious week, which we did. Even if we had a catastrophic start in the second half, there's always work to do. It's satisfying, we're really happy.”
“We came up against a stronger team”
Gregory Patat (Bayonne manager): “We got a lesson in rugby. There were four players who had concussions, we got a red card… The commitment was on the Montpellier side. We didn't manage to get up to their level. It was 4th against 7th. They had been talking about the bottom of the rankings since the start of the season. They didn't want to start again at the bottom of the rankings. We knew that their motivation would be exacerbated by this position in the rankings and their recent performances. We had clearly identified things. We knew that it could happen like that. That's what I said at the briefing. If we look at them, if we wait for them, we will take 30 or 40. Today, we simply came across something stronger.”