Ugo Mola (manager of Stade Toulousain after the victory against Exeter, 64-26): “In the first half, Exeter pushed us or pushed us back to our limits. But we must recognize that we never gave up and that we were able to resolve the problem of the ground game. The first period also came down to our lack of efficiency in this sector and a pair of balls that we were unable to negotiate. Afterwards, the players had a pretty incredible match.
The opposing strategy was to leave the ball on the field, to increase the playing time, to force us to hold the ball, to play, to enter into a standoff that would last. But you have to take them, the “Manny” Meafous, for sixty minutes. You have to take the Bailles, the Mauvakas, the Marchands, the Jack Willis. Paul (Costes) was voted man of the match, it’s very good for him because he deserves it, but Jack should have received a great trophy because he had an incredible match.
“Six semi-finals is of no use. What helps is the titles at the end. It’s up to us to find the keys to get through one more round”
In the first half, we were also penalized seven times. It’s way too much to exist in a match of this level. But we found the solution, we put our rugby back in place and we scored quickly after returning from the locker room. The score of the second half was clear (47-10), but in the first half, we realized that English rugby was perhaps fresher than ours. Our friends from Exeter, Northampton and Harlequins are at 14 Championship matches while we are already at 20. We paid for this freshness in cash at the start, and we are not the only club Frenchman to have paid it this weekend.
Afterwards, we knew that the third quarter was a moment of weakness for our opponents. They coached quickly to try to catch the tide, but we scored quickly and killed the game at that point. We knew it would be a psychological and physical war. I want to congratulate the players who reached their sixth semi-final in a row. But six semi-finals are of no use. What helps is the titles at the end. It’s up to us to find the keys to get through one more round. »
