With already two defeats in three days, the French champions must beat the English from Sale this Saturday or risk elimination from the group stage of the Champions Cup.
It’s been a long time since Stade Toulousain found itself with its back against the wall at this stage of the season. What is the mood like this week?
Antoine Dupont : Like a week when you lost an important match. The energy is different. Even if you manage to stay in a good mood, there is obviously a little more tension and pressure. We have experience, we have already found ourselves in this type of situation which is not easy to manage. We can still release 2e chicken if we do the right thing. All is not lost. There is still hope, enthusiasm and, above all, the desire to do better.
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Would it be a trap to think that you have been unplayable at home since the start of the season?
We must not tell ourselves that just because we are playing at home, it will happen by itself. The other teams are waiting for us. They are extra aggressive against us. We have been warned. It’s up to us to do things in order: basics first, defense first, up, move, before everything else.
Facing Stade Toulousain, the opponent is playing their match of the year. It’s always harder…
This has been the case for 5-6 years. This group is fortunate to have won a lot. We know the desire of adversaries to come and get us, to confront us. When you face the winning club, you always put in a little more to show that you are also at the level. But we can’t hide behind that.
How can you eliminate these air holes which have cost you three defeats in your last five matches?
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By having a clean conquest, movements and high-level attitudes to obtain quick rucks and, in defense, remain compact for 80 minutes. No longer have those lax moments where you get drilled too easily and have trouble catching up with the blows behind you. It’s very much a question of state of mind. We need a very high level of awareness this Saturday…
Are these two defeats a necessary evil to become aware of all this?
We will know at the end of the season… There, we have to take the positive side of it. Maybe the matches we won, we weren’t at our level and we thought we were. Because we won by a large margin, we deceived ourselves. These victories made us believe that we were doing enough and, in the end, that was not the case. His defeats must call us into question. They show us that we need to do more during the week, do more on the weekend. We all hope that they will be founders for the end of the season.
Are you reassured before this decisive meeting?
That’s not the word. We want to show a better face. We are the first to be disappointed to release performances like that. Whether in terms of the state of mind and, even, our rugby, which was poor against Saracens. These are not things that are like us. So already show a better face. Do very simple things very well. Want to defend together, fight together, play together, pass to each other. This is what we’re missing a little at the moment…
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Comments collected at a press conference
