Aubin Hueber (Grenoble): “The rugby gods decided it wasn’t for us”

For Grenoble, the substance of each season differs but the epilogue has inevitably stayed the same for three years. Once again this year, the FCG made it all the way to the final, more emphatically than on the two previous occasions, but once again came unstuck two metres short of the bowl of sangria, first in the final against Montauban (24-19) and then in a stifling access match the following week at the Stade des Alpes against Perpignan (13-11).

Built to go up to the Top 14, the Isère club find themselves bruised all over again. For Ruck Zone, their director of rugby Aubin Hueber agreed to put words to that pain, at once clear-eyed and carrying a message of hope for better days.

What is the dominant feeling after a very successful regular season but also this bitter failure in the play-offs?

It is true that we have this feeling of a job well done up to the semi-final against Provence Rugby, which we managed pretty well. For all of that, we are very proud but we did not quite see it through. What was missing was the cherry on the cake with promotion, whether accompanied by a title in the final or without one in the access match. So we are left with a slightly bitter taste in the mouth.

Can you tell us about that moment of distress that followed the final whistle in the access match?

The families come onto the pitch, the players are sad and crushed and there is that moment when you feel a leaden weight fall on you. Since I have been at Grenoble, it is the second time for me, but some players who have been here longer are going through it for the third time. That is six matches lived with that terrible drama. All the same I take my hat off to the players, who found something extra in their souls after the lost final to pick themselves up and play that access match against a Top 14 side who had just put 40 points on Stade Toulousain. They dug into the virtues that make this group strong.

A group that also reached the final last year but which you did not hesitate to shake up last summer…

We took that decision with the president Patrick Goffi to move 15 to 20 lads out of the squad because we felt they could not carry on the adventure with us, for various reasons. Everyone took us for madmen, we were told we were wrecking the club, that we were doing anything and everything… We simply replied: “OK, we do not know much about rugby but we are going to try to be relevant anyway”. In our recruitment, we wanted to sign good players but above all good men, with values we hoped to bring to this club.

The unconscious trauma of the last two lost finals

In the end, that risky strategy almost paid off…

It almost came off, that is the word, but that is the reality of elite sport. Now, of course you have to own everything that happened last year, everything it took to rebuild a group. We also decided with the president to break with the habits of pre-season camps, which until then had been held at Tignes, by changing the scenery completely and going to Calvi in Corsica. We also worked a lot on the theme of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation and on the resilience of the resistance, which was strong here in the Vercors. Everyone felt very involved and focused on a season that was not straightforward at the outset.

With hindsight, did you not fall into the trap of feeling too much like favourites in the final against Montauban?

I actually talked it over again with the players after the access match. Before the semi-final I had sensed a fear among the players, a sense that they could very well lose that match, all the more so as Provence Rugby had told everyone they were out for revenge. That stress had produced extreme focus all week before the game, something I felt less of before Montauban. We were in a good place, confident, sure of our rugby… but when you look at our first passages of play in that final – a dropped ball, a lost lineout – those were little signs that told you this was a different beast.

Is that not the clearest demonstration that the mental side is decisive in a final?

Obviously! And you do not play a final strategically the way you play a regular-season match. In that final, for some players who went through the two previous failures, I also think there was that syndrome, when Montauban land the drop goal just before half-time, of unconsciously thinking: “Blimey, we are going to lose it again!”. There was no panic either, because we got back into the game, but it still was not precise enough to hope to win that final.

“You wonder how you can forget that when it is the law”

We can all still see that terrible penalty five metres out, badly taken with the hand, five minutes from time…

You mention that passage of play, it is irrational! There is no explaining it. We are as sad for Eli Eglaine, who forgot to tap the ball, as we are for ourselves. But above all for him, because it is a moment he will remember for his whole career. All the more so as it was something we had shown on video, because the referee Luc Ramos had already flagged to us that on a penalty taken with the hand, you have to tap the ball. You wonder how you can forget that when it is the law! That is why a final is a match apart.

Go on?

You do that in a regular-season match… fine. But there, five minutes from the end, it is a final-winning ball that you let slip, a bit like what we saw in the last final at Roland-Garros in tennis (Jannick Sinner against Carlos Alcaraz, editor’s note). The Italian had three match points on his own serve, he could have hit an ace but his arm trembled and he did not do it. It was the same for us, on a passage of play that had served us pretty well during the season. What happened? Let us say the rugby gods decided it was not for us. And you also have to take your hat off to Montauban, who last year were playing the access match to avoid relegation, who finished sixth and who found a real upturn. When you beat the third and the second of the regular season away from home in the play-offs and then the leaders in the final, it is not by chance. Well done to them and to their coach Sébastien Tilllous-Borde, whom I signed for Toulon when he was a player (in 2011).

Given Grenoble’s recent past, what levers could the staff possibly pull to get the troops going again for the access match?

We stayed one more night in Toulouse, we gave the players the Monday off and we did not even debrief the final. There was no point showing them the footage and the mistakes again. We had to switch straight away to the access match against USAP, something the staff did very well. We were supposed to train on the Tuesday and the Wednesday, but we sensed the bodies were still tired and we gave the players the Wednesday off as well. We let them build their physical and mental energy back up.

“I told the lads to empty their heads, to make the most of family and mates and to switch off their phones”

Perpignan won the access match with a penalty won at a scrum on your own put-in, four minutes from time. How did you experience that swing?

We were unlucky because shortly before, our prop Tommy Raynaud broke his arm and Zack Gauthier, who had a very good final, had to come back on when he was somewhat spent. There again, I believe a lot in fate and it simply was not for us. The rugby gods chose Montauban and then USAP, not us. It hurts, but we have no choice but to accept it.

Given your season, do you not feel this year even more than the others that you have wasted a huge opportunity?

That is also what makes sport beautiful. You are sad when you lose and at the same time it is so joyful for the others. Being champions of France and going up to the Top 14 is a wonderful thing! I experienced it with Toulon in 2005 at Mayol when I was coaching alongside Thierry Louvet. Those are extraordinary moments… when you win. When you lose, they are very sad moments, which you share or do not share but which you have to get out of your system whatever happens. I have spoken with the president and the club’s medical team about bringing in a mental skills coach, perhaps a psychologist. At the very least, putting a tool in place for the players if they want it or need it.

Your double failure at least had the merit of reopening the debate about whether to let the Pro D2 champions go up directly again. Are you in favour?

I represent the FCG at the LNR and I am indeed going to raise it, because it is frustrating. Those who are against it will surely have their arguments, but while in the Top 14 crowning the team who finish first as champions would be complicated, I think it would be possible in Pro D2. I knew it in 2005 with Toulon and I believe the side who finish first should be champions and go up directly, and then there would be play-offs from second to fifth with semi-finals, a final, and the winner of the final would play the thirteenth-placed Top 14 side. I will push that proposal.

How do you set off again after all that?

We had an evening with the players and their families and I told the lads to empty their heads, to make the most of family and mates and to switch off their phones. Enjoy it and come back with your lungs full and your brain nicely balanced. The staff need to rest too, to step back, to let go and come back fully pumped up. That is what our job demands.