Jérôme Daret, coach of the Blues, second in the Vancouver tournament: “We are moving forward”

“What is your assessment of this Vancouver tournament, which ended with a good but frustrating second place, after defeat in the final against Argentina (33-21)?
We are under construction. We are aiming for Paris 2024, so the more we flirt with the top level, the more it will be beneficial for us. Our ambition is to get as many finals as possible and, of course, to win them. At world ranking, we have moved up to third position, we are picking up again and that is putting pressure on everyone. We are a bit of a challenger compared to more experienced teams. We had a very good match in the final despite everything, it narrowly escaped us. I find that we are in our objectives, on our roadmap. We are going forward.

How are you going to manage the frustration of this lost final precisely, when the Blues had not reached this stage since the Hamilton tournament in 2020?
We are of course always frustrated to lose a match. But frankly, given where we come from, seen what happened in Los Angeles (the Blues had obtained 9th place there a week earlier), where it was tough, tough, in extreme conditions, we didn’t give up. It is not a coincidence. The ranking changes from one tournament to another, the level is very high. We are present, we are not making too much noise, but we are there. We build players, we build performance, cohesion and collective experience. I am quite satisfied. Now, we are still far from the mark, we have quite a significant margin for improvement. It’s also reassuring. We are going to work, optimize and play our luck for Paris 2024.

What did you miss to beat Argentina and win the first tournament for the France team since the only trophy raised in 2005?
What we lack is this mastery of the tempo, this ability to manage our emotions at certain key moments, to send the right signals to our opponents and to the referees who must consider our skills. I think they are seeing them, understanding them. We will force the line and we will manage to put everything end to end, as we knew how to do in the semi-finals against Australia (26-12).

Precisely, on this match against Australia, we saw the France team dominate its subject. Do you think you have crossed a threshold?
Performance is built step by step, objective by objective. We put ourselves in the wheel of the cyclist and we will use aspiration to grow. This kind of experience is important. It puts pressure on everyone: our competitors and ourselves. Flirting with the top of the table forces us to find regularity, consistency. We are on the way, we know what we are still missing but we feel that we have the potential to do better. We will analyze all of this, use the work done in the ecosystem, with the clubs, to continue to progress. It is motivating and auspicious. And at some point, we will get there. »