Top 14: Putting the church back at the center of the village, Christophe Urios big emotion after the feat…

Conscious of Clermont’s feat on the field at the Stadium against Stade Toulousain (27-24), while Toulouse were leading 21-0 after 10 minutes of play, Clermont manager Christophe Urios is proud of his troops. ASM is completely back in the hunt for a place in the finals.

Christophe Urios, Clermont was in a difficult situation during this match against Toulouse. The turnaround will be important in your journey, right?

It was a courageous match. Obviously, at the beginning of the match, we were there, we were ready, we were hitting hard, but they were faster than us. They were extremely realistic. Then there was the yellow card (against Marcos Kremmer), another yellow card after (against Harry Plummer). But we didn’t give up. It’s good, because sometimes we let go of the rope. This time we held onto the rope, everyone did, and we had tough moments. I think today we fulfilled our commitment, we respected the club, we respected the people who came to the stadium, we respected everyone. I think that’s good.

It’s a great show of character from your players…

I have my answer on the mindset, on the mentality and on the ambition as well. The difficulty in matches like this is to get everyone on board. And it’s not easy. I think in the preparation, we were pretty good. It built up. I think we had a lot of freshness this (Sunday) evening. It was quite good. And then, it’s true that Toulouse, at 21-0, I think they kind of lost their way. We managed to find our direction. And then, we didn’t let go of them. We had a second half based on pressure, efficiency. Honestly, it was quite incredible for the occasion.

Even with a numerical disadvantage…

I felt that we were coherent, actually. I felt that we were coherent in the way we played rugby… It happened to us at Stade Français, when we lost our way, we did anything and it resulted in 60 points. And here, I appreciated the performance of the leaders especially who maintained the course. And that is fundamental for the rest of the season. Today I am proud of the players. I think we brought some good things to our supporters. Good things to the club. It’s good, we have to continue. And then, it’s not the end of the world. There are four matches left, it’s very tight as you know. It will likely be very tight until the end. It’s probably going to come down to one point, like every year. But tonight, it’s the victory of a club, the victory of a project, especially the victory of the leaders who I think were very very good in preparing for the match, in approaching the match, in the content of the match. Honestly, it was good. We were a bit in trouble regarding the top 6 before the match. Today we have put the church back in the center of the village and we are not eliminated.

Is this the best away victory since you joined Clermont?

Emotionally, surely yes. Because Toulouse, since I joined Clermont, I have never beaten them. I beat them a lot when I was at Castres. Here, there, at home, a lot. I even won a quarter-final at their place. In Bordeaux, I beat them at the beginning, but towards the end, not so much. Let’s say not at all. It had been a long time since I had beaten Toulouse. But it’s not the best, the most beautiful victory. I believe the most beautiful victory purely in terms of rugby, is against Toulon. But we can also say that of Montpellier this year, which was quite well achieved. But emotionally, given the match context and our team today, it will count.

Will it have a big impact on a mental level?

If we can’t find confidence in matches like this… So yeah, it’s true that managing our emotions is not a strong point of the club. And our team. We are rather irregular, even though since the start of the season I feel it less. So we are making progress, the work of the leaders is important and we are slowly but surely getting back strong leaders, who lead, who are listened to, even if they are young. I think we have put back some structure and today’s match proves that. And for the end of the season, it’s important because we need strong men. And the leaders must be strong men.