"I hope the next one will be the right one," Teddy Baubigny's lucid observation after RCT's elimination in the Top 14 semi-finals

What separates you from these teams?
Realism. This Bordeaux team is more pragmatic, more serious. And they came into our half a few times but scored right away, and we made too many mistakes, too many handling errors. And so we ran after the ball. Against a team that hadn't played in the play-off, we left some ammunition and so we defended hard for two-minute stretches and physically we cracked from the 60th minute onwards. We were out of gas, we were down to fourteen, the season was long, and that's it. We came up against a team that was more settled, more experienced, more precise, more efficient.
How long did you believe it?
At half-time, I'm convinced we're in a good position (15-20). We're giving away two or three opportunities along the way, but we're there. Then scoring before the break [by Leicester Fainga'anuku in the 40+1st minute] should have helped us. And finally, when we came back, we made two small handling errors, we started to defend, defend, defend, we got this yellow card which unfortunately killed us a bit. You play against big teams, so already with fifteen it's not easy, so with fourteen it's even less so. That's how it is.
Especially against a Bordeaux team very sure of its strength...
It's a more settled team, which makes fewer errors, handling errors, and is disciplined. Today they have a defensive line that we had to put pressure on, and in the end they played more comfortably. It's up to us to learn, to be a little more precise, to put a little glue [on the hands - Editor's note] and get going again.
While it's difficult to make a quick assessment, do you feel the team has grown this season? And in what ways?
Obviously, we're still happy with our season, even if it's not what we had imagined. We feel that the group is progressing, that the team is moving forward. We weren't invited tonight, but not everything is to be thrown away. We'll have to use this semi-final. And I hope the Top 14 can count on us next season. Because we don't have a lot of players leaving, but I hope this bitterness will continue next year. So that we have a little more anger in these kinds of matches.
Anger, bitterness, is it a good fuel in your opinion?
Last year, losing the play-off at home [against La Rochelle] served us well. This time we lost in the semi-finals. And we also lost in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup, so we have to go back and learn.
You probably would have liked to skip the stages, but last year in the play-offs, this year in the semi-finals, there's been improvement every season...
There's continuity. So our squad will be different next year, but it's time for this group to step up. When we take on Bordeaux, they're not there by chance; they've been in the semi-finals and finals for years, and I hope the next one will be the right one. In any case, Pierre [Mignoni, RCT manager] says he wants to go back and work even harder to come back next season.
Var-Matin