How do you explain this listless first half against Harlequins? Wenceslas Lauret: We had difficulty getting into the match. We let them play, we lost a lot of balls in the rucks. In conquest, we sometimes advanced well in melee but we were not rewarded. In the game, there were too many missed tackles, so we suffered a lot and we let them get into the game. We chased the score…
You then lead 28-17, we thought the hardest part had been done. What’s going on? We always manage to get back into the game but the problem is that we start the matches quite badly. We should start better now. That way, we don’t have to chase the score. The good thing is that we had the mindset to come back and in the end, we had the opportunity to score because we were 5 meters from their line. But we lost the ball, we lacked control in this match. Mastery is essential, especially in high-level matches. We know that this comes down to a few points. There, we see that we have the offensive and defensive bonus but it is not enough. It was a home match and we should have left with a victory. All points will be important. You have to finish first to hope to go far and host at home. It’s not enough, it’s not our standard. Now, if we want to stay alive, we have to win the next match at Ulster, we have no choice.
During your last matches, you had already had a difficult start… We saw in the last matches that we had difficulty starting our matches. We always come back into the game but I think we have to take the matches from the right end and start well to put pressure on our opponents. For the rest, we have to be able to score directly, like that, we hold the match and we don’t suffer.
The last action where you are 5 meters from their goal must leave you with regrets…It is not necessarily only on this last occasion… It is on the match that there are a lot of regrets. When we see our conquest, our defense which is usually our strong point… On the rucks, we have too many lost balls. The good thing is that we managed to score the few times we were in their camp. But it’s not enough. You have to manage to hold the ball and not defend. We defended a lot today (Sunday) and we conceded a lot of points…
What do you expect next Saturday on the Ulster pitch? It’s going to be a big match. They lost (in Bath), they are in the same configuration as us. This is going to be a match to stay alive. They, like us, have everything to play for if we want to stay in the competition. If we want to qualify, we have to win this match.
