“We can't be satisfied with leaving here with 0 points”: reactions after Stade Toulousain – MHR

Joan Caudullo s’est présenté en conférence de presse après la victoire de Toulouse contre Montpellier. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Players and staff from Stade Toulousain and MHR appeared at a press conference this Saturday, January 25, to open the 15th day of the Top 14, a few moments after the Rouge et Noir's victory at Ernest-Wallon (27-17).

MHR

Joan Caudullo, MHR manager : “We held out for half a game. When you make mistakes against that team, it's difficult, we know how they play. In the first half, they moved around and we managed to hold on. The series of mistakes at the start of the second half hurt us. They dominated the contact, we suffered.

There are regrets about the disallowed try. Apparently, Jordan is not looking at the ball while he is fighting. I will have to look at the rules. It hurts us a little. We had won the territory in the first half, it's a shame not to score more.

We can't be satisfied with coming out of there with 0 points. I'm not satisfied with losing today, we don't do this job for that. What is important is that we show a good image of ourselves.”

Arthur Vincent, MHR winger : “We had a good first forty minutes. The start of the second half was disastrous. We knew the challenge, we really came here without pressure, it was a bonus for us, we were missing forty minutes. We made a mistake, we conceded two 80-meter tries. That's where we are compared to Toulouse. That's the difference.”

Alexandre Bécognée, third row of the MHR: “If we were looking for a second wind in the second half ? I don't know. I think we're doing well. But we're conceding tries against the run of play at key moments. That's the difference between them and us. Even when cornered, they manage to make the most of the little ball they have.

It's frustrating to have lost tonight, we came for at least a point. We shouldn't throw everything away either, we started from this block, we had objectives, we achieved them in terms of points, whether it was Clermont, Racing, Bayonne, we shouldn't throw everything away, we have to go on holiday proud of this block. It's a great block overall. We have to learn from these little mistakes, from these moments of low spirits, so that it can help us later, we still held on failure of beautiful teams.”

Stade Toulousain

Clément Poitrenaud, Stade Toulousain coach : “At half-time, we said to ourselves that we had to keep busy, keep a cool head, play intelligently. In the first half, we tried complicated things, we put ourselves under pressure. We were much stronger by playing turnovers in the right way. The players were under a bit of pressure before the match, then we faced a team that responded to what we expected of them.

There were three good tries. Montpellier spent a lot of energy in the first half. They perhaps had less in the second half. We were able to make the difference on that.”

Matthis Lebel, winger of Stade Toulousain: “The little bonus would have been the cherry on the cake given the nature of the match, the adversity. The victory is already very good. They put us in danger on the outside, one of our strong points. In the second half, we were able to recover. In the first, we got into their rhythm, with a lot of exchanges of kicking games, lineouts, scrums. We limited the damage. By putting a little more energy, whether in defense or attack, we found what we knew how to do.

In the first half, we got into this particular rhythm. Fortunately there was this disallowed try. We put ourselves in danger all by ourselves, we gave them a lot of opportunities, but we had a very courageous defense. In the second, when you recover a penalty on their strong point, with our pack, it makes everyone happy world.”

Alexandre Roumat, Stade Toulousain third row: “The first half was committed, jerky. We had worked all week on Montpellier's game. We knew how they were going to play. In the scrum and in the lineout, we had trouble. In terms of intensity and desire, we were there, but we couldn't capitalize, like this action where we could take this try just before half-time. Despite the weather conditions, we had to do our best, weigh in around the nine, we played them too much in front of the defense in the first half.”