Montpellier (AFP)
The ambitious Montpellier is stuck on the border of the great rugby Europe where he accumulates failures for several seasons and is once again very badly embarked on the eve of the reception of Toulouse, Saturday at the 4th day of the French Cup. 'Europe.
The initial failure on the ground of Connacht (23-20), the most modest of the four Irish provinces, and the defeat of the French champion (23-9) last week pushed the club Héraultais on the edge of the precipice. With five points and two losses in three days, he needs a clear fault probably with several points of offensive bonus to hope to pull his qualification in the quarterfinals via one of the three best second tickets.
"The European Cup is an objective every season, but it's been two years since we stayed at the docks and we're not getting into good gear this year, even though there are still three games," bitterly anticipates Captain Louis Picamoles.
This is even longer, since the club Mohed Altrad, emerging force then big arm of the championship of France since the dawn of the decade and its emergence in the Top 6, has risen only once (in seven participations before this season) in the quarter-finals, in 2013.
- Mental question -
If the MHR, winner in 2016 of the European Challenge, the small European Cup, has the workforce to combine its two objectives (domestic and European), he has neither the style of play nor the state of mind nor the constancy to shine in the great continental competition.
"We've had a leap in the league, every year we can claim the title, the European Cup is another competition, another culture and another state of mind. attacks these matches close to the international level, but there is not yet this little trick, "measure the former 3rd international line, the rich continental experience after playing for seven seasons in Toulouse (2009-16), four-time winner which in 2010 with him.
"We lack the mind.This team tends to quickly let go when it's a little hard," said on the eve of the European campaign Benedict Paillaugue, a historic setting.
- Common identity and style -
With its massive pack, legacy of the passage of former Springbok boss Jake White (2014-2017), Montpellier does not meet the standards of speed, mobility and displacement imposed by the Anglo-Saxons. Sunday in Toulouse, in the rain that drowned any initiative, he also did not respond to the pragmatism and the restrictive game put in place by the leaders of Toulouse, superior in all sectors.
Since a long time Montpellier alternates the accomplished performances, as against the leader of the Top 14 Lyon on November 30th (33-8), and the abysmal failures, as with Ernest-Wallon.
And this inconstancy annoys the placid Picamoles: "We are in the reaction more than in the action, we can make an exceptional match, then be catastrophic the next shot.It is tiring to make the same observation for some time" he emphasizes before launching: "We must talk less and act more, to make us one day maybe a great team."
The start of the season seesaw old scars in a cosmopolitan group, marked last season by a break in the locker room between some South Africans and old grognards from the training center.
Until then, Montpellier, young club, has neither found a common style, nor an identity likely to generate a supplement of soul in the storm.
"In this very rich workforce, there are different cultures, (without) the same project of the game or the same ambition," says Pierre-Philippe Lafond, the assistant coach.The common goal of the MHR must be that of If we come to that, we'll have come a long way, it starts in Toulouse. "
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