News
Europe is 'magic' for Toulouse
December 04 2008
French champions Toulouse might be in impressive form at the moment but Head Coach Guy Novès wants to keep his troops on their toes ahead of their Heineken Cup clash with Dragons on Saturday and has called in some outside expertise to do just that.
All Black scrummaging coach Mike Cron spent four days in la Ville Rose to work with the Toulouse staff on their set piece, an exchange that Novès hopes will make the formidable red and black scrum even stronger.
"We needed to work on that sector. Thanks to the friendship between (Cron) and Byron (Kelleher) he accepted to join us for four days to exchange skills so that everyone could benefit," said the three-time European Cup winning coach.
"I'm learning new things every day. I know that I don't know everything. He made the All Blacks scrum into one of the best in the world. He only had positive things to show us, and I think he learnt a few things too."
Novès spoke of Toulouse's special relationship with European Cup and the extra motivation it brings to the club.
"The European Cup remains something magic for us," Novès told le Site.
"We when come to this tournament and (like last season) we find ourselves as the only representatives of France in the semi-finals, it's hyper-motivating. We have the pleasure of not only being recognised in France but the world over. In the Southern Hemisphere, people know that Toulouse are the most successful club at European level.
"It's definitely a special kind of motivation knowing that there have been times when we've been eliminated very quickly. The fact that it's so hard makes it even more exciting to be in the competition."
Europe's most decorated coach highlighted the pressures that come with participating in the Heineken Cup.
"It's a very difficult path to walk (in Europe) because one defeat can change everything. Last year, we lost to Clermont at home (in the Top 14) but that didn't prevent us from becoming champions. If you lose at home in the European Cup, you don't have any more jokers."
Novès is wary of being over confident when his side are in such impressive form.
"There is no bigger threat to le Stade Toulousain than when we impress and then relax," he said.
"We need to pull all the strings so that the players don't fall into a complacent mind set. You have to be vigilant all the time, and constantly tell yourself that we are under threat. We've paid a heavy price for that kind of attitude before. There were years when everything went our way and we totally missed out on certain matches. When you've lived through that kind of tragedy, you need to stay vigilant."
The Toulouse coach admitted that he had considered the possibility of playing Frédéric Michalak at scrum-half to allow Byron Kelleher to rest.
"Fred can cover at scrum-half, for sure. Philippe (Rougé-Thomas, the backs coach), Yannick (Bru, the forwards coach) and I have asked ourselves the question," said Novès.
"On one hand, Byron really needs to recuperate. He plays in all the matches. We feel he's in danger physically. We don't want him to get injured. We could have tried it but with the absence of David (Skrela) at fly-half and Jean-Ba (Jean-Baptiste Elissalde) at scrum-half, to totally change the axis combination seemed to be risky, given the difficulties it presents.
"We're going to stick, at least at the start, with a classic axis and maybe as the match goes on and according to what happens we'll think of having a look at Michalak at scrum-half."
As for the Dragons, Novès isn't expecting an easy game on Saturday.
"We know that they are a very good side," he said.
"That don't have the kind of representatively that certain teams do, but because of our experience we'll remain cautious. The fact that we've had misadventures in these kind of matches before will prevent us from being complacent.