“It’s not the ideal preparation but it’s the one we have chosen”: recovered and hardly tender with his men after their setback at the Aimé-Giral stadium (22-15), manager Christophe Urios was in better moods Wednesday during the first press briefing of the week organized by the UBB where he presented himself alone. A rarity this season.
“It’s their choice,” he said. “I have never banned players from going to a press conference. Probably because they feel like tightening up. And that is good. I think they’ve had a very positive reaction since Monday. I find them changed, much more actors. Fate, you can make it move, provided you are alive. I find that, this week, they are alive, much more than at the end of last week. »
And he, voluntarily further back, as he had hinted in Catalonia after his post-match projection.
“I sent messages through the press on Sunday evening asking them to go ahead,” he explains. “I have the weakness to think that during the final stages, we, the staff, we must be in the wheel of the players. It’s up to them to take the trick, it’s up to the leaders to go ahead. As of Monday morning, they came to see me, telling me that they wanted to do things. I didn’t have a meeting on Monday and Tuesday. They are the ones who made the meetings. »
“Fragile and capable of anything”
Urios did not remain inactive, however. He participated in a “council of wise men” with his leaders, received his internationals Cameron Woki and Matthieu Jalibert whose performance he had pointed out in Perpignan. “They are our best players. When they’re not good, I say so. When they are good, I say so too. I don’t see why it would only be one way. »
“And I keep the prerogative of team composition,” said the Unionist manager with a smile that barely chased his questions. And they are many.
“It’s the first time that I’ve approached a final phase in these conditions,” he admits. “We are both fragile and at the same time capable of anything. You don’t know how we’re going to react. »
Kind of like last season. In April 2021, the dynamic was already uncertain when approaching the final stages of the European Cup with this worrying setback conceded at home against La Rochelle (11-26). Two weeks later, UBB dismissed Racing, already on the wire (24-21) in the quarter-finals.
It was just as much in June before the Top 14 barrage against Clermont after two defeats suffered in Toulon (25-19) and against Toulouse still at home (21-10), which had not prevented him from spinning in half (victory over ASM 25-16).
So levers, “solutions, I have plenty,” says Urios. “Are they going to work?” I do not know. Saying nothing for two days was one. But the verdict, the justice of the peace, is Sunday. If things go well for us, I’ll keep my mouth shut until the end of the season. But you will miss this. »