Stade Toulouse-Harlequins: “This generation wants to mark the club’s history”, says Ugo Mola before the Champions Cup semi-final

How did you feel preparing for this match?

The pace has continued to be a bit frenetic in recent weeks, which is true for all the teams apart from our Irish friends. The English and French clubs all had some important games to play and it is true that we managed the week first by recovering from the Racing game which obviously affected us a bit in terms of intensity. Afterwards we had more of a classic week with the benefit of getting a recovery day by playing on Saturday. The energy was quite high from our players, but as you prepare for these types of events. And even more so when it takes place not far from us.

You traveled to Dublin for the semi-finals of the last two editions. Is it comfortable in the way you approach the game?

We did everything we could to find ourselves there at the time. It wasn’t entirely up to us, but by coming first in this competition in the group stage, we hoped that we could eventually play a semi-final at home. So when you get ready and put all the ingredients in place to be there, it’s obviously a little more comfortable than traveling. We have experienced some pitfalls in recent years, but we cannot blame them. But regardless, it’s still very comfortable. We see it today when we meet directly at the stadium for staging. And we meet peacefully this evening at the hotel. We’re at a much easier pace, which doesn’t win us games, but maybe doesn’t draw too much energy.

How do you feel about Harlequins?

What is obvious is that we have a completely different opponent to the one we met on the 2nd day in London (Toulouse 47-19 victory, editor’s note). It is a team that has achieved many things at a very high level with many international class individuals that I am not going to name all of them for you between Dombrandt, Smith, Green or even Esterhuizen. But beyond that, I read and watch a bit of everything that has been said about Harlequins, and we perhaps underestimate the work of their strikers, who in the matches at Racing and Bordeaux were decisive for away winners. Knowing the difficulty of our championship in the phases of conquest, the quality of the Bordeaux and Racing teams in their forward pack, they were strongly questioned. So to think this is going to be an open game with five or six tries on average for both teams, which has been the case for us for a while, would be to go the wrong way or go wrong. We can already expect a tough battle on the forward play and the ground game which remains one of the trademarks of Harlequins.

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What motivated your choices to hire Flament, Kinghorn and Costes?

There are several factors that come into play. You can imagine that team compositions are not made on the fly. It is what always motivates us and which is perhaps element N.1, it is the performance of the moment. When you are lucky enough to be able to train so many quality players, you also have the responsibility to reward achievements. This is the first point. 2, there is the opponent. And 3, it is the characteristic of the opponent who scores a lot of points, especially from the 60th to the 80th minute, and which in the European Cup turned the games in their favor at that time. So ending with such an experienced team is an important choice. Modern rugby is perhaps played less and less with 15 players. We all look at the starting team, but I like to look at the finishing team, because that will surely be decisive for the outcome of the game.

You later said that the relationship with a single title despite five semi-finals was not necessarily good. Do you feel this desire within the group, despite several Brennus, to go for another Champions Cup?

This group showed that it was capable of winning titles, which is not always the case and is not easy. Sometimes we downplay the fact of winning, but there’s only one winner, so you have to remember that it’s hard. The circumstances in which we played the last semi-final were not easy (against Leinster, editor’s note). We couldn’t find the keys and we got hit in the foot from time to time, so this group needs to use this experience. These are children that I had between the ages of 19 and 21 and who are now between the ages of 26 and 30. They are no longer the same, they have become experienced in international matches, and play semi-finals regularly. It is not neutral to be on the sixth in the row. This also shows how difficult it is to win a title in a tough, different competition at international level where you have to respond with all your strengths on the big day. We have to realize that this has not always been the case and I hope that we will make it up to our opponent who is flamboyant of late and the environment and the enclosure. It’s not a goal, it’s the path we decided to take and it’s up to us to seize the opportunities to get through another round.

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Did you use the frustration of the last two lost semi-finals to prepare for the match?

Honestly, I could answer you at length about the frustrations we may or may not have. We obviously use our context, our experience, and this group has, as I told you, followed and worked alongside each other for a very long time. He learned from his mistakes, and so did we (the coaches, editor’s note). Afterwards, those in the semi-finals can talk about the disappointment of not going to the final. There are some who never talk about it. We are lucky to be there, it must last because it is important with this group. But for all that, to win a title, and we were lucky enough to win four in five years, everything has to line up. And from the semi-final, which is often a very competitive and close match, you need to be in good shape and be able to show your qualities. The only frustration I can have is when I finish a match and the team didn’t have the performance and the level that it had when we played. And today I have the feeling, watching them work, that we will, I hope, be at the level we should be at tomorrow afternoon. This team has a lot of appetite, it wants to mark its history and its time at Stade Toulousein. This generation is a little different, and to mark its passage, you need to win semi-finals, and lots of them. At the moment it is not bad, but they have not yet marked the history of the club like certain generations.