Issues and presentation of the match
Nice Premium: Julien, satisfied after this second victory in the championship last Sunday against Beaurepaire?
Julien Shramm: Obviously satisfied with the victory, which was really very important, against a very strong team that, I remind you, played the playoffs last season.
This concludes the first half of the season positively during which we played away four times in seven matches. And then, very satisfied with the magnificent first half that the team produced, demonstrating its really interesting potential. Honestly, I don’t see many teams capable of producing such a volume of play. The paradox is that we are still in the last place. But hey, we are in a very tight group, and we deserve much better.
Honestly, we are not in our proper place at the back of the pack. We should never have lost at home against Aubenas, and we should have brought something back from Rumilly. Apart from Aix, no one is above us in this group 3.
NP: This Sunday, it will be the Varois from La Seyne facing you. How are you approaching this match?
JS: With a lot of determination and motivation. It’s another very important match, an additional step in the pursuit we’re on to find a more comfortable ranking. We know that La Seyne comes with ambitions because the Varois are coming off a loss at Rumilly, they must secure an away win if they want to qualify, and if we beat them, we’ll catch up to them. There’s pressure on both sides. But if we play at the level of our first half against Beaurepaire, then we will impose ourselves; if we play like the second half, we will have many difficulties.
The advantage is that we are not going into the unknown like in the first match.
The disadvantage is that La Seyne is warned and will not take us lightly. Now, we only have one objective: victory. It’s the second consecutive home match, before traveling to Aubenas on December 16, then hosting two more times in January against Rumilly and Aix.
NP: What are the updates on the group a few days before the derby?
JS: Good news overall. The group is doing well and working well. It has a very positive approach and has fully embraced the methods of Christophe Moni and Manu Boutet. This group is in an upward phase, which gives us a lot of hope. One downside is the injured players, but I imagine that’s the case for all teams. We’ve got Schmidt back in the front but lost Rouillier (fractured finger). Guiran (neck) is out for the season, Pagliai, Hall, and Mège are still unavailable, Delage is just returning, and Caminati is still waiting for qualification… We won’t be in optimal conditions, but rugby is a physically demanding sport, and La Seyne certainly has some absentees as well.
NP: The effectiveness seems to return on the kicker’s side. Have you found a magic formula?
JS: Let’s say we didn’t make the mistake of putting too much pressure. Neither on Rudi Dames, who is far from the kicker he was last season, nor on Thibaut Dejardin, who rediscovered success last Sunday. As a kicker, I know it’s not always simple. It’s not by stressing about it that problems get solved. I know, for example, that Rudi works a lot in training. It will come back. He already delivered a magnificent drop against Beaurepaire. He feels better as a fly-half, apparently, whereas we had placed him as a scrum-half, the position where he was trained… We move forward with them. We find solutions. What is certain is that we will need success on Sunday.
NP: Finally, what would the club ask Santa Claus for this year?
JS: A victory against La Seyne and an exploit at Aubenas following that would be the best gift the players could give to the club, before starting 2008 highly motivated.
