Rugby World Cup 2023 / XV from France: “We are ready, and New Zealand will be”, confirms Thomas Ramos

What do you think of your last match and your preparations in general?

Winning three preparation matches out of four is a positive. Especially the last two with wide scores and more accomplished things (34-17 against Fiji and 41-17 against Australia). On a physical level, there is no doubt that we are ready. Today, in the second half, we had better balls. We also managed to take advantage of some defensive mistakes by the Australians. Our final seat has done some good. All in all, the second half was better than the first.

How do you explain that?

In the first period, the Australians responded more physically. In the rocks, they put their hands in a lot, which slowed down our football outings a lot. There was a lot of indiscipline on both sides and the match was necessarily more volatile. On the other hand, in the second half, we had a bit more space.

The 10-9-15 call seemed very consistent. Do you share this feeling?

We’ve had important benchmarks for four years. I’ve found myself in the opening position on quite a few referrals because the Australians have been batting the opposite of Mathieu (Jalibert). So I was the first in the area. All in all, we had good standards in this game.

Three attempts conceded, is this a point of concern?

Defensively, especially on the first try, we have to be able to work things out. We managed to do that during the match. They gave us the same line-up two or three times and we knew how to defend it better. Through discussion between us at half time we were able to fix the error we saw on the first try. After that, we still won a fairly wide score. I want to think that the main thing is to score more points than the opponent, even if, obviously, against other large teams it will be necessary to reduce the number of points received.

From this Monday, you have five days off. What are you planning to do?

I’m going home, enjoying my family. It will be good to find your loved one. There is no doubt that we will have a program to implement it. After that, I’m thinking of going to see my friends at the club (Stade Toulouse). It is always good to keep in touch with them.

What do you think of the meeting New Zealand against South Africa?

You have already witnessed this struggle during the rugby tournament. The blacks have won. This time, the Springboks showed themselves to be on top. It’s always interesting to see how the Boxers dominate the Blacks. It is up to us to use this kind of performance to inspire us. But I have no doubt: the blacks will be ready on September 8th.