In a fragile situation with just two points clear of the first relegated, the audois have little room for manoeuvre. The forward coach takes stock when he receives Colomiers, this Friday January 6 (19:30) on the 16th day of Pro D2.
Before approaching the return phase, keep your head above water. It is satisfying?
When you make two missteps at home (Massy and Grenoble, ed) and bring back only four points from outside in eight away games (success in Rouen, ed), inevitably we are where we deserve to be. In the last game of the year at Mont-de-Marsan (13-42), the content was disappointing and it was heavy with another zero-point away defeat. So were we on vacation early? We put a lot of thought into the preparation. We are the first to question ourselves because the defeat is collective.
What is your budget for the outward journey?
Obviously not good! Our future opponent certainly also lost his last game, at home, but he against Oyonnax, who rolls over everyone, isn’t too serious. You have to learn the right lessons from what went wrong in order to find the right solutions. What interests me are not the fifteen days that have passed, but the next ones.
Isn’t the timing of the start of the comeback phase surprising?
We have a two-game block, there’s a hole, then there’s a second six-game block. And on this block we will only have receptions against direct competitors (receptions from Rouen, Soyaux-Angoulême and Oyonnax, trips to Massy, Aurillac and Nevers, ed). The idea is to collect the maximum points on the matches that arrive and above all to avoid projecting too much.
But first there is Colomiers that stands in your way. It’s honestly not an easy recovery, is it?
After the holidays, the menu remains extensive. And you shouldn’t miss it. Today we mustn’t delude ourselves, our championship will be decided there. Above all, we will have to win against our direct opponents at home or away. This is where you will need to put as much energy as possible. After having practically reviewed all the squad and players who train regularly with the pro group in the first phase, we now know how to move on to the other half of the season. And this is what will be decisive. We begin by negotiating our first meeting with Colomiers.
