Top 14: Brive must go back to basics,
and readjust their lofty ambitions - Ugo Mola
28
October 2009
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Fresh start: Brive's players
must go back to basics
© Diarmid Courreges |
Brive’s
new coach Ugo Mola has admitted that he expected to
follow
sacked predecessor Laurent Seigne
out of the door following the club’s continued poor start to
the season.
Instead,
Mola was promoted from assistant coach and now heads a three
man team also consisting of Christophe Laussucq and Didier
Casadei.
“The
situation is paradoxical since it was him (Seigne) that
brought me to Brive, so I have a little trouble making the
switch because of the disappointment and the new challenge
that awaits me,” he told rugbyrama.
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Mola
said it was imperative for him that Laussucq remained at the
club, but also added that he felt results would have
improved eventually under Seigne. “I do not feel there was a
need for change. We did well together for a year and a half.
Last year we achieved the objective we had set, but this
year we experienced a difficult start to the season. We lost
control and therefore the decision was made to get rid of
Laurent. Now our mission is to save the club,” he explained.
Mola
made clear that Brive’s downgraded ambitions for this season
now mean securing against relegation first and foremost. The
club is currently 11th in Top 14 and has managed
just three wins in 10 games so far this season.
Asked if
the club’s loft pre-season ambitions had contributed to
their own downfall, Mola replied that he felt they were
rather “a source for motivation”, although obviously those
goals would now have to be redrawn.
“Obviously, the objectives that we identified early in the
season have gone,” he said. “We will therefore return to the
basics and be more pragmatic.”
He added
that eroded confidence was the main problem behind the
club’s current status, but added that he believed there was
still good spirit at Brive and that the “mutual trust”
between players and coaches was intact.
Mola
said he didn’t intend to change much in the short-term, but
would rather use the nine day break after round 12 to
reflect on how best to move forward.
He
unveiled a three-word mantra for his new charges -
‘discipline, mastery and enthusiasm’ – but also confirmed
that his contract only runs to the end of the season and
that any possible renewal would hinge on the club’s future
results.
On the
immediate playing front Brive have doubts over two players
injured at the weekend, with prop Davit Kinchagishvili and
fly-half Luciano Orquera both on the treatment table.
Another head coach coming under pressure at
the moment is Bayonne’s Richard Dourthe. The
Basques slipped into the relegation zone following their
home defeat at the weekend, and Dourthe admitted that
players and coaches alike had subsequently shared a frank
exchange of views at a ‘clear-the-air’ meeting.
Dourthe
refused to go into detail about the meeting, except to say
that the coaches had taken their fair share of flak from the
players, and vice-versa, with views aired that “were not
pleasant to hear”.
Elsewhere, Bourgoin fly-half Benjamin Boyet
will be sidelined for a month following a deep gash in his
right knee sustained against Toulon at the weekend. It had
been feared that Boyet damaged ligaments or tendons, but an
MRI scan proved positive.
Clermont Auvergne prop Thomas Domingo also got a
clean bill of health following a scan on his right ankle and
is now expected to be fit for Saturday’s game against Stade
Francais, and also for national selection with the French
team. ‘Les Jaunards’ have also been boosted this week by the
arrival of new signing Tasesa Lavea, the 29-year-old
Blues centre who has joined as cover for the injured Marius
Joubert. Lavea has four caps for the All Blacks.
Finally,
Toulon lock Jocelino Suta, 26, is expected to
sign a new two-year deal with the club later this week.
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