Novice in the Champions Cup, Bayonne inherited Munster to begin its history on Saturday in the biggest European club competition, which the Basques approach proudly and “without pressure of result”, assures their manager. “It’s a huge source of pride to participate in this competition, when we think of all the work that was put in place last season and validated by the results,” summarizes Grégory Patat in an interview with AFP.
“When we saw that we had Munster in the pool, a legendary club, double European champion, we all hoped that our first would be there to discover this universe and that this experience would be useful for our future history,” continues the Rowing manager. “Thomond Park (Limerick stadium, where Munster plays), it’s a feared place with the Red Army that everyone knows, this atmosphere…”
Patat, who discovered the Champions Cup in 2017 when he coached the La Rochelle forwards, now double title holders, does not see any similarities with his current team, for whom “it is an accelerated learning process with just one year of Challenge Cup behind us. Above all, he is not deluding himself about his team’s chances in Ireland: “the Munster ‘domestic’ championship (United Rugby Championship) is not the same as the Top 14. Their meeting every year is the great cup of Europe.”
“We are referred to as the small team that discovers: we know very well that the Anglo-Saxons are there to create a lot of rhythm and a big volume,” he explains. “It’s a different competition which is played in the offensive area, focused on possession, holding the ball. Munster believes that our championship is slower. We are getting ready, the message has been sent on this. We are going to have to raise our standards to do well in terms of attitude and content.”
The technician, who announced that he wanted to rotate his squad compared to the last outings in the Top 14, asked for “pride in the twenty-three players who will be lined up. For some, it will be their first match sheet, they will be the first actors in this European epic. Without a specific objective, Patat assumes “that there is no pressure put on by the leaders in relation to this competition, no pressure for results. We just want to take advantage of this situation to grow, learn to progress.”
