After two matches without scoring, the Bordeaux-Bègles winger scored a double against the Wallabies on Saturday. If he readily points out the faults to be erased, he prefers to remember this awakening of the attack of the Blues.
You scored a double. We imagine that you are satisfied…
Louis Bielle-Biarrey: Beyond my individual performance, we found ourselves well in attack. It’s a good match, yes and no. We see that in defense, we were a little light this (SATURDAY) evening still, at times. Hats off to the Australians who played well. There is discipline, too, which was quite a complicated point, especially in the first half. This allowed them to come back to our side all the time and score points. But it’s a good match based on the fun we had. On the other hand, on certain defensive points and discipline, it was a little more complicated. I prefer to remember the pleasure we had.
With this double, was there a form of liberation compared to the other matches which had been complicated?
If I go through matches without scoring, it’s not the end of the world either. But it’s true that I’m always happy to score. It’s always strong emotions, especially in the French team. I’m very happy to have scored, but more happy with the team and all the work that had been put in place.
I don’t have everything in mind, but it’s true that we’re not disciplined enough to play at that level.
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You are penalized eight times in the first half. What happened?
We were warned but we were often caught offside. It was the focus of the week but, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. We still take two or three penalties for offside. I don’t know how to explain them all, I don’t have everything in mind, but it’s true that we’re not disciplined enough to play at that level. Today, it’s okay, we’re happy. But we saw that against the South Africans, it was much more complicated, and even against the Fijians. We know what we have to work on.
Despite the problems encountered during the match, you did not give up and continued to attack…
We still have some pretty good players offensively, so we weren’t going to stop. But yes, we were defeated in certain areas of the game, particularly in attack in the first two matches. We developed two or three things during the week on our game, like trying to air it out more and it worked for us. I hope this bodes well for the future.
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France-Australia: Bielle-Biarrey and Depoortere untenable, Fickou too discreet… The notes of the Blues
It feels good to find a little pleasure again. This was not the case during the first two outings…
It’s certain that we easily found ourselves between the big guys and the three-quarters in this match. The big guys also had a superb match and it’s always easier when the big guys dominate. I’m not going to teach you rugby… (smile) And we, behind, were more precise, which had not necessarily been the case in the first two matches. So when the bigs and three-quarters do the work, we manage to have more fun in attack.
Against Fiji, we made too many individual errors behind, me first in fact
The first try you score, with this little overhand, is perfectly executed…
That was the idea I had and it’s going pretty well… (smile) Sometimes it doesn’t always go exactly where I want it with my left foot. There, it worked for me and I’m really happy because it’s a test that does us good. (…) With Damien, we know each other and we understand each other too. That’s the advantage. When I see him rowing, I know that he’s more or less going to pass me, so I can anticipate a little. These are little automatisms that we didn’t necessarily have in the first two matches. We must not forget that, especially the first match, we only had three or four training sessions to prepare against the best team in the world. It was complicated to find automatisms, we hadn’t played together since the Tournament. And against Fiji, we made too many individual errors behind, me first in fact. In this match, it’s true that as soon as we find ourselves and manage to gain speed, it’s really easier.
If there is one conclusion to draw from this tour, looking ahead to the World Cup, what would it be?
We need to be ambitious in the game and defensively, we need to be more precise and focus on the problem of discipline. I think that if we can do that, we will get closer to the best.
