"The desire to rub shoulders with the best," the confessions of Matéo Gracieux, young RCT winger

For the first time in his young career, 20-year-old Matéo Gracieux appeared before the press after the defeat in Perpignan. He had just completed his baptism of fire, over 40 minutes, at Aimé-Giral. Lined up on the right wing in the second half, the Tours native, who grew up in Rodez, Aveyron, a key player in Cédric Béal's Espoirs [where he scored ten tries last season], agreed to talk to Var-matin . While he didn't have much to get his teeth into at Aimé-Giral, he still sent out some positive signals. Notably when receiving an attacking high ball ( ^53rd ), where he was able to break and play Tuicuvu, or on a nice defensive retreat under pressure ( ^66th ).

The score is heavy (50-19), even though it's the first outing of the season, with a very young squad. In the heat of the moment, what feeling prevails?

It's a bit of a mixed bag. It was a return match for the whole squad. We had to get back into the rhythm quickly. As for us in the second half [understand the second XV, Editor's note] , I think we looked at them a bit too much from the start and that made things difficult for us. We very quickly conceded two tries and, after that, it became difficult. We knew it was going to be tough, that we had a slightly younger squad, but it's also up to us to succeed in raising ourselves to the level of the Top 14. We're going to have to work even harder, us youngsters, to respond when we're given the opportunity.

You were a whole group of friends who were thrown in against Perpignan. How did you prepare for this friendly, which is bound to be special?

(He smiles) It's true that there were quite a few of us who were putting together Espoirs. We all had the goal of giving our all. We knew that there were going to be quite a few of us friends joining at the same time. We had to go all out and give it our all on the pitch.

Did you feel apprehension or stress?

No apprehension, no. More like a desire to rub shoulders with the best in France, that is to say the Top 14. We all really wanted to measure ourselves. I felt that we were quite excited. I'm happy to have been able to participate and to have had my chance in this preparation match even if, inevitably, the score is a bit of a stain. We wanted to try to prove ourselves, to keep the score as close as possible for as long as possible. That wasn't the case, but I think we're all still quite happy to have already had a taste of that. It's up to us to come back to it now.