Romain Ntamack did not beat about the bush when discussing Stade Toulousain’s strange week. At the press conference before the derby against Castres, the international fly-half took the time, in front of the media, to look back at the hiding taken at Montpellier (44-14) and at these last few days of training. Without hiding. “There was a lot of disappointment, a lot of bewilderment, and hurt pride too. But once again, we can only blame ourselves. We were the ones on the pitch and it has to serve a purpose. So it’s gone, we can’t replay the match“, he said, in comments reported by our colleagues at La Dépêche, present at Friday’s press conference.
Absent against MHR, Romain Ntamack said he felt “powerless not being on the pitch“. He qualifies that, however: “It’s part of the journey of a season, there aren’t always highs, there are sometimes lows, as we experienced last weekend. I think the group has tightened up around that non-performance last week and, once again, we hope there will be a response over the weekend“.
Important returns
The group has tightened up, yes, but it has lived through a very studious week. Honest as ever, the fly-half describes it as “under tension” and even speaks of “a few flare-ups” during it. “It’s true that there was a bit of irritation among the players on the pitch, a few flare-ups in training too. It doesn’t do any harm, it also gets the heart pumping a little. So it’s true it does us good as well. It puts us back in our place, it puts our heads back on straight“. During the match against Montpellier, Ugo Mola had not minced his words either on Canal +, talking about a “team that didn’t get off the bus”.
For this high-stakes fixture, the Red and Black staff will be able to count on some very important returns. Starting with centres Pita Ahki, Kalvin Gourgues and Paul Costes, along with the returning Ange Capuozzo. You will have gathered as much: Toulouse have no more room for error.
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