Week ”off” for the TOXIII after a great first part of the League One Competition (13 Victories, 1 Draw, the first place in the ladder and a 1/8 final in the Challenge Cup). Time for the coach, Sylvain HOULES, to come back on the achievements and to focus on the rest of the season.
The first phase now in the book, what is the first conclusion on the first monthes of your team in the English competitions ?
Sylvain HOULES : I am obviously very happy and satisfied about our first results in League One. Our goal was to finish top of the table, given its importance for the rest of the competition (home games against the second and the third team during the second phase). Mission completed. I am particularly happy with the seriousness of the players, their exemplary behavior because they set high targets and they did everything they had to do to reach them. I have really appreciated how serious they were when approaching every single match. The boys did a great job.
More generally, what is your opinion on the League One and the Challenge Cup ?
Sylvain HOULES : Our first impression is that this championship is pretty serious, especially as we have the feeling that each team wants to raise its level against us. Even teams that did not make it to the top 8, such as Newcastle or the North Wales Crusaders, gave us a good contest in their stadiums. And we had to be very focussed to get the win in the end.
This is an “interesting” rugby, and “clean” since there are an average of only 6 to 8 errors per match. This average is lower than ours, we still do more errors than that.
We enjoyed our Challenge Cup adventure. Our objective was to meet a Super League side, and we did it, with, on our way, a beautiful victory against a great and top Championship side. To be able to defeat the Leigh Centurions at home was a great performance from the boys. This match will be engraved in my memory for a long time. It was a great game, which gave us the taste of the Championship level and of what we have to expect if we want to play there next year.
Regarding Wakefield, it is a good memory despite the defeat, it was an important lesson. What we manage to achieve against a League One side, we have endured it against a Super League side. We know the work we still have to accomplish.
What do you think about the teams that the TO will meet in the « Super 8 », with the difference of the home game and away game, that should be important ?
Sylvain HOULES : The Super 8s will be tough, there are going to be several strong matches if we want to make it to the Championship. It was important to finish first to be able to play Rochdale (2e), York (3e), Barrow (5e) and Keighley (6e) at home and to play away only three times, at Doncaster (4e), Hunslet (7e) and London (8e). Nothing is going to be easy, we have already played at Hunslet and London, and we know what to expect there. Hunslet is a skillfull team, with a cheerful crowd, and London is taking full advantage of their narrow synthetic field. I understand how they managed to cause problems to many teams on their pitch. To play at Doncaster will be also very tough, since, from what I have seen, they are one of the best teams we played against. It was not easy at home, so to play there will not be easier… But I am happy because they have a beautiful stadium, one of the most beautiful in League One, so the boys will be able to enjoy the game even more. So the plan for this second phase is to keep improving our game, being able to question ourselves week-in – week-out and keep playing an entertaining rugby.
How do you approach this second phase ?
Sylvain HOULES : We have to remain cautious, because we have already played all the teams, and defeated some of them quite largely. I am happy because in these last few days, Adam INNES and Christophe TOUSTOU have spotted several ways of improvement we can work on, especially in defense at the end of the tackling process. I liked what they came up with, and we need to implement this in order to bring more stability in our defense. It is all about details and we will need these adjustments in the second phase. We are going to keep the players committed with several paths of improvement, since they are asking for that, in order to continuously provide better performances. We need to keep on working.
More than ever confident for the title and the promotion in the Championship ?
Sylvain HOULES : Of course, we are confident to get the League One Title and the promotion, we have to be confident, we have to believe in ourselves. Confident but cautious. We have to continue what we started, focusing on each match, week after week, as we did until now, in order to reach our goal. We have to play these matches and we have to win them, nothing can be taken for granted right now. We have to put all our forces to get the title, and the first step is an effective preparation and training. This week “off” is also very important to allow everybody to rest and come back with a full dedication and a clear mind. Now, we have 7 matches left, hoping to finish in the top 2, so around 8 to 9 weeks of hard work.
