Toulouse concentrating on Heineken Cup
A bruising encounter with Montpellier wasn't ideal preparation for the Heineken Cup Final
Beaten in Montpellier on Sunday, Toulouse are concentrating on their upcoming Heineken Cup final rather than the Top 14 according to assistant coach Philippe Rougé-Thomas.
After impressive victories against Auch and Castres, Toulouse's so far near-faultless build up to their Heinken Cup Final against Munster hit an unexpected speed bump when they went down to a 17-15 defeat on the road in Montpellier last weekend.
According to assistant coach Philippe Rougé-Thomas, the loss is no train smash as the triple European champions' recent schedule has meant that they have been unable to give every match their full attention.
"We had three matches to play in nine days and we had to win two to be able to serenely prepare for our European Cup Final and confirm our place in the top four of the French championship," Rougé-Thomas told lesite.
"The match against Montpellier was taken with liitle more detachment compared to the others. Certain players had two or three games in their legs and it was difficult to maintain the pressure on the players fifteen days before the final."
The toll taken by the hectic schedule was evident when loose forward Yannick Nyanga and Tongan centre Manu Ahotaeiloa left the Mediteranean coast as the newest names on the Toulouse injury list.
"We know that the calendar is hard on the bodies, there's nothing we can do. We can't keep harping on about the same thing. We need results and the club must continue to advance. My job is to prepare the players and we've placed the bar quite high," said Rougé-Thomas.
Despite the loss to a club 32 points behind them a the Top 14 table, the Toulouse coaching staff are satisfied with the motivation levels of their troops.
"It's difficult to keep the pressure up. We made choice by concentrating our preparation on the first two games of the three. We have a final to prepare for and we can't expect the boys to be at full steam all the time," Rougé-Thomas explained, admitting that the club's attention was now exclusively centred on the Heineken Cup Final.
"You can't deny that it's a big event. One of the biggest. Also, it's the first of our season. We're in the final and our objective is to win. And we'll fight to win."
With twenty points separating Toulouse and Castres in fifth place in the Top 14, the club from the south-west has the luxury of not having to be concerned about making the 14 semi-finals.
"If we've got a lead of twenty points, it's because we went out there and earned them. Nobody did us any favours. So now we can afford to dose our efforts," he added.
"It was always part of our plan to gain a maximum amount of points to get through the difficult periods like the Six Nations or the European Cup. We knew it would be easy and we're not surprised by this infernal rhythm."
Toulouse had rotated their team over their three games in short succession and brought some big guns onto the field in the closing stages of their match against Montpellier, almost staging a thrilling comeback from being 17-3 down.
"We knew that match would be difficult, but at the end of it all the balance sheet is still positive. We took a bonus point away and only lost by two points to Montpellier, who are a good side.
"That said, we didn't deserve to win that game," added Rougé-Thomas, who avoided commenting on whether being top of the Top 14 table was valuable to Toulouse who are currently second, five points behind Clermont.
With one game remaining before their big day at the Millennium Stadium -against Montauban who upset high flying Perpignan in their last match - Toulouse are concentrating one competition at a time.
"For the moment our objective is the Heineken cup. We'll ask ourselves [if leading the Top 14 is important] afterwards. If we beat Montauban, after the European Final, we'll see what remains to be done to ensure that the club reaches the semi-finals in the best conditions."