Steve Thompson column: 'It's a results-based business, but no need to panic yet'

By Steve Thompson, 21 September 2009

Frustration… that’s my overwhelming feeling at the moment. We’re playing well and yet we’re just not getting the results that our efforts deserve. Saturday (against Biarritz) was another example of that. It was yet another match I felt we could have won, but in the end we’ve lost by three points again – just like last weekend against Montauban – and it means we’ve now dropped eight points in the league when you also take into account our home draw against Clermont a few games ago.

You just can’t afford to do that in this league because it’s so competitive, and we know we have to regroup and try and get ourselves on a run, like we did last year, beginning with Friday’s home game against Castres.

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The really frustrating thing is I thought we played well in all three of those games – Clermont, Montauban and Biarritz – and yet we’ve come out of them having picked up just four points. There’s certainly no reason to panic, even if we are lower down in the league than we’d like to be, because it’s only tiny things that are costing us. Yesterday our new winger ‘Waqa’ was pulled down just inches from the line in the second half and I think if we had scored then it would have been game over. But Biarritz were obviously lifted by that and went on to take the lead shortly after.

But as I said, there’s no reason to panic. We just need to make sure that we start turning things around on the pitch – results-wise anyway – and we know we’ve now got some really tough games coming up. After Castres we go to Paris to take on Stade Francais, who now look like they’ve turned their season around. But that in itself gives us hope, because two games ago they were in the relegation zone.

'Top 14 this year is the hardest it's ever been'

I guess that just goes to show how tight the league is year. In fact I think the Top 14 is the hardest it’s ever been, I really do. If you look at the teams that came up, Racing-Metro have got a big budget and they’ve bought well. Even Albi, last week they only lost by six points away to Toulouse. All the teams now are playing some great rugby and they are also really tough games, and you can see that in the league with the way results are going. We knew it was going to be hard season, but if we want to keep Brive going in the direction they are – and with the backing that we’ve been given – we know that we’ve got to try and get into that Top six and stay there.

We may be down the league at the moment but we’ve still got faith in the squad’s ability. We know from last year what we’re capable of, when we set ourselves the target of qualifying for the Heineken Cu and achieved it.

It’s the same this year, especially with the new play-off system. We want to make sure Brive get into the Heineken Cup again and also try and do well in the play-offs at the end of the year, but it is going to be tough. Interestingly enough we’re on exactly the same points as we were last season after seven games (14), so we know we can turn it around.

'Losing a player of Flutey's calibre does hurt you'

Obviously things haven’t been helped by injuries so far, and at one point our backs seemed to be dropping like flies this season. We were really looking forward to Riki Flutey’s arrival, even though we knew we would lose him for the autumn internationals and the Six Nations, so for him to be injured straight away has been a real shame. Fortunately we’re quite strong in the centres with the likes of Jamie Noon and Ronnie Cooke – who was our player of the year last season – but when you lose a player of Riki’s calibre it does hurt you. But at least Jamie is settling in now and we’re beginning to glimpse just how good he could be.

And Shaun Perry has also started really well since his move from Bristol. He’s a great bloke and a great player, and I think him not having kids or a partner here has also helped because he’s been able to come over and fit in straight away. It might sound awful but it means he can just worry about himself, and that can make a difference really. It also helped that he had a great first match against Montpellier where everything went for him, and when you hit the ground running you can just keep going from there. If things don’t go right for you straight away then you can start feeling the pressure a little bit.

Our new winger ‘Waqa’ is also a great asset. We looked at him last season when he came over on trial for a week and to be honest you could see that he had something quite special. He’s got that speed and step, but he’s so strong as well, and that’s the sort of player you need in this league. You’ve got players like Nalaga at Clermont and Delasau at Montauban who can pull something out of nothing, and it’s always nice to have that sort of weapon yourselves. It’s so exciting to have a player where you think you’ve got nothing on and then suddenly they can jink their way through  and score a try – it’s nice to have that.

'We're in a results business'

But having said all that it’s no good just having the potential without delivering. We’re in a results business, and you just have to look at what happened to Ewen McKenzie at Stade Francais to understand that. We obviously don’t know what went on behind the scenes but it just goes to show the high pressure that exists in Top 14 now. It’s a really tough league with absolutely no easy games at all, and the whole mentality of winning away has also changed thanks to the influx of British and southern hemisphere players.

But as I said, I think we’re doing okay playing-wise at the moment. We’re scoring tries and creating opportunities, we just need to finish games off and stop dropping points, staring with Castres at home on Friday.

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