Sergio, can you tell us what happened at the last minute with you kicking that drop goal?
SP: It was a split decision, that I may have made a little too quickly. I was in the right position, so I chose to take the drop goal opportunity myself. I took my responsibilities, as I always do. I could just as well have succeeded, I did not, that’s it, my apologies. Maybe we could have kept playing to get a penalty. I am disappointed, because I obviously meant to make that drop goal. When it works, it’s great, when it doesn’t, people will always say it wasn’t the right choice. The one who takes that responsibility has to face the good consequences when he succeeds, and the bad ones when he fails. Kelly Haimona would probably have had a better chance to make that kick, the ball actually flew past him before getting to me. We probably should have had one more phase to put Kelly in position, maybe we could have managed to get a penalty, but I made a decision, that’s it.
Jacques, you had asked your team to compete and be in contention until the end, which they did. Are you disappointed after what could have been a massive win?
JB: If you look at the score, of course I am disappointed to lose by such a small margin. It could have been a lot different, however our goal was to be the fiercest opponent we could be for France, show who we were. We wanted to match France for intensity, for ability to compete. Even if we had a few young guys. And even if we are disappointed, I think we met those objectives, and we can take some positive from this game.
Were you surprised by the team’s performance, with many young players, to compete during 80 minutes?
JB: I had dreamt about it, or at least I hoped they could do it, but nobody knew for sure. We didn’t know how the young guys would face up, if they were going to be scared, if they were going to be able to take initiatives. And they did, they weren’t afraid at all. This is very positive for us. We now know the scenario of the game, and I want to keep the positive. Some people had predicted a French victory by more than 30 points, it wasn’t. We proved that nothing is ever set in stone.
Can this performance and result give you enough confidence for the rest of the Championship?
SP: We will have to review the game. We lost, but with many inexperienced guys in the team, we did have the opportunity to win that game, and deservingly so. We have to take some positives from this game, this was an important performance for us, especially the young guys who played for Italy for the first time, and I’m sure this will help us in the future. In the past, we have produced such performances only to fall harder the next week-end. We now need more consistence. We have an important game next week against England in Rome, and I hope today will help us get this consistence.
Were you surprised by the French, did they play the game you expected them to play?
JB: The game we expected, yes, probably. Both teams had had a lot of changes, with just a few days to prepare for the game. We knew that it would come down to who was the closest to being ready, who had gone the furthest in their preparation. And we proved that we were here to compete, not as spectators. So no, we were not surprised, we knew it would be difficult, for them as it was for us, to create a team in such a short period of time. We also expected them to play an attacking game, with Médard in great form at fullback, with Bézy creating a lot of opportunities. And despite us expecting that, they managed to score a try by taking a quick tap after a penalty. But overall, we were able to contain them.
