Patrice Collazo on the MHR situation: “We didn’t have a strike picket Monday morning when we arrived”

Patrice Collazo, manager du MHR, était présent en conférence de presse ce mercredi 29 mai. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

The manager of the MHR, Patrice Collazo, presented himself at a press conference this Wednesday, May 29. The former international pillar answered questions concerning current events, debunking the situation internally, a few days before the match against Lyon (matchday 25) this Saturday June 1 (5 p.m.).

It’was an expected press conference. After the controversies of recent days, the manager Patrice Collazo presented himself to the three journalists present. "The club's situation is tough because’we are 13th, we are at the same point as when we arrived. As I told the players, we would really struggle if we had fifty things to work on. There, we have a problem, or even two, like the offensive and defensive ruck phases. But we also show that we are capable of producing things. Against Toulouse, we broke 8 times and them 3 times but we lacked rigor in the scoring zone", he assured at the start of his speech.

Then it was time to ask questions about what was happening internally.

There's been a lot of discussion with the players lately, hasn't it ?

There were some. You (the journalists) say that the slider is up. You attended the training, no? We train the same way, we haven't turned everything upside down. You have to shake things up when nothing is working. Ok, we have no results. But over 80 minutes of the match, I would be lying if I said that everything was a throwaway. And that would be unfair. The most important thing is to target what we are missing.

Afterwards, the meetings, there were no more than usual.

Le nouveau manager du @MHR_officiel Patrice Collazo s'exprime sur la relation entre Bernard Laporte, directeur du rugby, et le staff pour le reste de la saison de #TOP14 ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/nNR6PXb81V

— viàOccitanie (@viaOccitanieTV) November 23, 2023

Have the players taken certain things into their own hands??

That's you who interpret it like that. You have attended a lot of training since the start of the year. Today you saw something new?

But there was a meeting with the players, no ?

Last Wednesday, yes. But these are discussions only about the game. Afterwards, given the situation we are in, all the media hype goes with it. When we arrived, it was the same thing. We came to Montpellier for a very specific mission. In two weeks, we will see if we succeeded. For three months, we extricated ourselves from something, then we came back to it. That’s how the story of the season was written like that.

That the group takes charge, that can also be a form of positive sign.

There is one thing that is obvious. I am not going to play, Vincent (Etcheto) is not going to play, Bernard (Laporte) is not going to play, Jérémy (Valls) is not going to attempt penalties. We are here to support them. Afterwards, there were always meetings of game leaders, collective decision-making on strategy.

Wednesday, fortunately there was one. These are strategic points, technical exchanges. How do we come out from our 40 meters, should we make a maul or take the ball out on this or that touch…

"I know the players met with the president"

There were therefore no discussions on the functioning of the athlete, management, the internal situation?

For my part, directly in exchange with me, no.

You know that the players met the president…

(He cuts) I know the players met the president. But we didn’t get summoned and say: we don’t want that, we don’t want that anymore. It was perhaps transcribed like that, you may have understood it like that. I'm not going to tell you about a daily life that I don't know. I am not lying to you. Yes, I can tell you that there was a meeting last Wednesday, but it only concerned the game.

Afterwards, the week went normally. For me, there was no live meeting, with thirty guys sitting in front of me. The meeting was with ten guys involved in the game.

Recognize that the context is particular. See players meet a president three weeks away from playing your life in Top 14…

Maybe, but do I have time to dwell on that? You, I understand. It makes you work. You have a job, that of reporting facts. Afterwards, you have to give arguments, and I will give you some. My energy is focused on the framework that we want to give to the players. We need stability, a defined system. As I've been telling you from the start, we're down to the gram. There would be ten matches left, I would tell you that it’s hot. There, we are two weeks away from access.

A few years ago, I would surely have answered you differently. Be careful, I'm not saying that I ignore it, I read, I listen. But if we take everything into account, it impacts daily life. We lose lucidity, objectivity.

Maybe the players needed to talk to each other. But we didn’t have a picket line Monday morning when we arrived (laughing). You have to be objective, you saw the training this Wednesday, there is nothing new.

Which is more important against Lyon: victory or manner?

We need to rediscover the emotion of victory. We need it in sport, to sublimate ourselves. This is what we have been missing for six matches. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be in our interest to take 40 to take radical measures. There, it's 10% and it would be lying to the guys to say that everything is to be thrown away.