Aviron Bayonnais is back in Pro D2 this week. After the defeat against Mont-de-Marsan on the lawn of the Jean Dauger stadium, it is in Oyonnax that the Bayonnais go this Thursday (8:45 p.m.). Bayonne opener Manuel Ordas was one of the guests of 100% Rugby on Monday. He evokes this first trip in this third block of the championship, returns to the setback at home against the Stade Montois and tells about his week with the XV de los Leones, the Spanish selection, victorious this weekend of Russia.
When we look in the retro, the home defeat against Mont de Marsan is digested?
Yes, although it was difficult to take anyway, because it was our first loss at home, against a direct competitor. But I think now it’s digested. It had to be digested quickly anyway to be able to move on and focus on the upcoming match against Oyonnax. We saw that we had nevertheless sinned quite a bit on the offensive aspect. We couldn’t finish the actions, score when we had to. So the fact of coming back to work earlier than planned – even if that was not the case for me since I was in Madrid with the Spanish selection – allowed the team to work on the aspects that we lacked for win against Mont-de-Marsan.
It’s off again for a new round of five games, two receptions (Carcassonne, Montauban) for three trips (Rouen, Bourg en Bresse and Oyonnax). So it starts this Thursday in Ain, against again, a direct competitor …
We have three big trips, plus we’re entering winter so the conditions are going to be pretty harsh and it starts this weekend. We’re going to have to have a really, very good game to get into this block in the best possible way and to be able to look upwards and regain confidence. Oyonnax is a very good team, we really expect it to be very tough in the fight and it will be up to us to respond. We know very well that it is a team that will play the qualification and the climb. They haven’t lost any home matches yet. It’s a team that puts a lot of pressure, which in all these phases of the game tries to push the opponent to put him at fault. It will be necessary to be up to it.
Is the group stung in its pride and want to redeem itself in relation to the Mons underperformance?
Sure. There is the desire to redeem ourselves, first of all vis-à-vis us because I think we missed out on this match a bit and it hurt us a lot. Then, vis-à-vis the supporters as well and all the partners, shareholders because the supporters had made the trip. We were sold out and it hurt us a lot to disappoint them, to lose in front of them. So it’s the urge to redeem yourself with all these people.
Much has been said in recent days during the international break, about the turmoil and movements at Aviron Bayonnais. The change of coach, the passing of arms at the management level. How does the band react to all of this?
We hear a lot of things. We try to go beyond and control especially what we can control. I think that all these things there, we can not control them, they are stories which are higher in the organization of the club. And we, I think what we can control as a player is the sporting aspect, what happens on the pitch and therefore the important thing is the match that will happen against Oyonnax and we focus really on top of it by trying to get over all that turmoil and stay focused.
Last week, you were with the Spanish selection, and you won a match against Russia (49-12) in the Rugby Championship 2021, also known as the Six Nations B. A victory that gets you back into the race to qualification for the 2023 World Cup in France?
We remained on three defeats in a row in the Rugby Championship including two away defeats against direct competitors and so it was very important to win against Russia to be able to continue to hope. We know that the qualification is played on this season and on the coming season, it was especially necessary to take the bonus not to be too far behind. Of the six teams that make up the Rugby Championship (Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain and the Netherlands), Georgia is almost certain to land their ticket to the World Cup. Then there is the battle to finish second in the standings and qualify directly for the competition. And if we ever get lost and we finish third we will still have a chance by passing through a dam. But it’s open. There are Romania and Portugal which are our direct competitors and it’s going to be a big battle until the end. So all the matches are going to be very, very important. On December 18 we face the Netherlands. It’s a late match and the last Rugby Championship match of this season and winning would allow us to pick up in Romania, in Portugal, knowing that afterwards we will receive them in February. Because if we start to pick up, they will feel us behind and that will put pressure on them.