MHR-Ulster: “The first replacement line did not bring what it should”, the reaction of Patrice Collazo

Patrice Collazo appeared in front of the (only) journalist at the end of the match against Ulster. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

MHR manager Patrice Collazo returned to his team's defeat against Ulster (17-40) this Sunday, April 7, in the round of 16 of the Challenge.

The first half is almost perfect. The second, the team breaks down. How do you analyze it??

In the first half, when we see the collective performance, the state of mind we have with guys who don't have a lot of playing time…hellip; It’s a controlled period. The only defensive mistake we make, we take a try. But otherwise, we're really in it.

In the second half, the red card (Paul Willemse, 42nd) was a matter of play. Instead of coming together, we fell apart. Above all, we have zero faults at half-time. We take twelve in second including six caused by the first returning line. For protest, for fouls on maul or scrum, a yellow card (Vano Karkadze, 67th), a missed tackle… What bothers me is that the coaching of the first line was not up to standard. The weakness of their return meant that we did not capitalize on the first half. However, the players had worked hard. Behind, we constantly remain in our camp.

However, the contribution of the bench has long been one of your strong points.

Be careful, the first line, it's been a while since, on coaching, it hasn't brought what it should bring. And that penalizes us. This is a sector that we must quickly improve and point the finger at.

Many players lacked playing time and still excelled.

In the first period, the guys hung on. Even if there were no automatisms, there was a connection, a desire, an appetite. The performance of Aubin (Eymeri) at the scrum, his first match with us, against very high level guys…hellip; The result and the coaching on the front line bother me regarding the first period we had, on a collective level and on individual performances. The weakness of the first line hurt us a lot.

"We must not let this result come back to us"

What to say about Paul Willemse's red card ?

It's a game fact. Before that, he brings a lot. On the tackle, the player is going downhill, he’s sagging a little… Paul opened his ears to the action. When they entered, Yacou (Camara) and Tyler (Duguid) scuffled.

We must not let this result come back to us.

Now that's it for the Top 14. Is it a blessing in disguise?

Winning leads to winning. And I like it when the team maintains a certain pressure in terms of rhythm. Where I am reassured is in the first half that we are doing. We're going to work on it, we're going to train and prepare for Pau (Saturday April 20). From Tuesday, we're getting back into Top 14 configuration. We're going to take the opportunity to work physically, especially some.

George Bridge was not on the scoresheet in the end. Why ?

We had a gastro epidemic. Our starting center pair, Jan Serfontein-George Bridge, had to be changed.

“This defeat pisses off”

Clément Doumenc, third line of the MHR : "I think that& rsquo;around the 50th, we ease off a little. After red, we defend well even if we are in a weak time. Small à small, we start à make mistakes. À the 50th, we're in a tough situation because we're pretty good at it. lack of rhythm. The bench doesn't help us too much. Behind, shit leads to shit.

À Personally, this defeat is heartbreaking. Ça allowed à guys who didn't have too much playing time to have some, to recreate emulation, which helped us ago three months. Çit remained a final phase match. We played against five Irish internationals, great players. In a career, ç counts."