The observation is once again realistic. Despite all their good will, the Sapiacains do not compete in the same league as the others. Moreover, they are facing Parisians who were not going to let the opportunity pass at Sapiac.
Fred Quercy (3rd row, captain): “Before kick-off, I told the players not to be fatalistic and to believe, giving everything because we had nothing to lose. It’s one thing to watch the games, but it’s harder to endure. I think the difference was physical. They are bigger, stronger, and move faster. We always lack that little second. You feel like you’re falling short, when in reality, you get lost after a while. There is a clear gap and it confirms itself week after week. It’s the end of the matches that are long. Now, looking at the results, I see that only we are getting points. It will still be good memories for us. We play against the best players in the world. We were not prepared for this. To challenge them, we have to play our final and they don’t. It’s difficult to race without the right car. We will host La Rochelle in fifteen days hoping that we will play the game like a final. In life, you need to put things into perspective. I am sure that if we had changed twenty guys by taking others at €20,000 per month, we would have done better. It’s good to have gone through this season with the team that won last season.”
Sébastien Tillous-Borde (manager): “We did some good things with a very decent first half overall. We managed to score. However, we scored and on the subsequent kick-off, we conceded a try out of nowhere. It’s too difficult at this level to exist. In the second half, it was tough because we made a mistake and conceded another try. It should also be noted that Paris is a very strong team with players like Nép, who dazzled the game with his talent. We struggled in one-on-one situations. Then it’s too complicated. It’s the Top 14. We can only compete in moments. The goal was to play the best possible game. We would like to win a game at Sapiac for us and our fans before the end of the season. We see the difficulty we have even by giving our all. We are building things for next season. When you are dominated, the refereeing kills you on details. We have to focus on ourselves and the work we do. We are a great Pro D2 team, but today we are not a Top 14 team. This experience should serve us for next season. We must remember this season to have the desire next year.”
Charles Laloi (Stade Français Paris winger): “The essential thing for us was to come here and leave with the offensive bonus points. We needed to be serious without overplaying. This allows us to remain in the top group. We need to detach ourselves from the bottom of the Top 6. I am very happy to have seen the quality of Noah Nép’s game. He is now an international player.”
Ryan Chapuis (Stade Français Paris flanker): “We had a strong bench and we knew that the players who would come around the hour mark would bring a lot of energy. We came to respect Montauban. That meant that if we could score more than 60 points, we had to do it. We got the bonus. The start of the match was choppy. After that, we were very pragmatic. It will be very close. We have to win the last two matches. A big battle awaits us. Noah Nép dazzled the game with his class. We made tackles with Thomas Buët, our future teammate. He is strong. I was dead tired at the end and I didn’t see much of him. Glad to have him with us next season. We’ll see what he’s worth.”
Ian Vass (Stade Français Paris coach): “We did good work. It wasn’t always easy. We were serious and clean. We just won two games with five points each. It will be tough to finish in second place. The goal is the Top 6 and then we’ll see.”
