This Wednesday, the manager of Montpellier, Philippe Saint-André was the guest of the Super Moscato Show broadcast on RMC Sport to discuss the upcoming Top 14 final against Castres Olympique on Friday evening at the Stade de France.
The latter explains that the Top 14 is becoming more and more bitter.
He logically explains that when you finish first or second in the Top 14, you are anything but a roller pump. Extract:
“I especially think that you don’t watch all the Top 14 matches because this Top 14 is complicated and tough. When you finish first or second after 26 rounds, that means you have a team and you’re not a roller coaster. It’s that you have a team, that you are strong and that you are sure of your strengths.
What has evolved is that the championship is more and more physically demanding. The rest week was a big big plus. Whether for Castres as for us the MHR. »
In the process, Philippe Saint-André wanted to defend the image of the Montpellier club, a club that has long been stamped South African. It targets in particular the recruitment carried out by the MHR. Extract:
“There is an image deficit that has been around for a long time. But honestly, on the team for the semi-final, there are eleven French people who are starting and who are starters. In the past two years, everything has changed in recruitment. In our succession plan, we recruit 70% of French players and we will look for players in D2. Mickaël Capelli came from Grenoble, Alexandre Bécognée came from Mont-de-Marsan. It is a recruitment with great potential and also with failed players like Florian Verhaeghe or Bastien Chalureau who did not play at Stade Toulousain. Me, I like atypical guys a bit and I also like to relaunch players. »
To conclude, Philippe Saint-André affirms that the adventure is beautiful with Montpellier. He hopes she looks even better on Friday night. Extract:
“Here we can see that the adventure is beautiful and it has to be even more beautiful. For that it will be necessary to be very very good Friday evening. To be loved you have to win even if 18 months ago you were second to last before stringing together ten victories in a row and then saving yourself and winning the European Challenge at Twickenham against Leicester. This means that we have guys capable of winning a competition. It’s true that Castres is more used to it and has titles whereas we in Montpellier don’t have a title yet. It would be even more beautiful, we want to write the history of this club. »
–
