Perpignan: Bid to get Top 14 season up and running
Perpignan coach Marc Delpoux has refused to push the panic button, despite his team remaining winless so far in the Top 14.
The Catalan giants go into the fourth weekend of Top 14 action on Saturday still without a win and face the tricky challenge of a home match against Bayonne to get their season up and running.
Despite three losses on the trot, Delpoux remained optimistic in his prognosis of his side's performances, saying that they needed some time before the new game-plan was well and truly bedded in.
"My feeling is that apart from the actual results, everything's going okay," said Delpoux, who took over at the 2009 champions after quitting rival Top 14 outfit Bordeaux-Begles at the end of last season.
"The players are putting in place what we want to do, they're extraordinary in training. We're progressing in what we want to do, but it takes time to put in place our gameplan."
Perpignan have so far lost to Toulon, Bordeaux-Begles and most recently Clermont, and face champions Toulouse in Barcelona on September 15.
"We have two big problems: our points in the standings, unfortunately not at the high level we were hoping for, and the mounting number of serious injuries over the last two weeks," said Delpoux.
The team has been hit by ruptured knee ligaments to Sofiane Guitoune and Jean-Pierre Perez, as well as a broken arm for tighthead prop Kisi Pulu and a torn groin muscle for the man he replaced, Nicolas Mas, the ever-dependable shoe-in for France in the number three shirt.
"Now we face Bayonne, a team which has taken a different route from the one it took last year (when it flirted with relegation)," he said.
"Bayonne are throwing it around a lot more, they're a lot calmer on the pitch, less panicky, because they suffered last year but then gave themselves a massive boost with a great win (24-11) over Stade Francais to kick off this season.
"We now have to convert our performances into points."
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