Williams: We were second best

Apr 7 2008 Western Mail

MARTYN WILLIAMS didn’t hide his disappointment at the Blues defeat to Toulouse and said his side got what they deserved against the French giants.

The Blues flanker delivered a brutal and blunt verdict on the performance against the three-times Heineken Cup winners.

The Wales and Lions star, who returned from international retirement to play a pivotal role in Wales’ 2008 Grand Slam, was adamant the Blues were ‘second best’ to Toulouse.

“I thought we were second best and we deserved to be,” said Williams.

“They were a much better side than us today, and if we wanted to get a result here, we all needed to be on the top of our game. Unfortunately, we weren’t.”

Williams admitted the Blues couldn’t have made a worse start to a Heineken Cup quarter-final if they tried.

They found themselves 10-0 behind with the game only four minutes old.

“We’d spoken about the need to silence the crowd and impose ourselves on them and give Toulouse nothing to feed off,” said Williams. “But we gave them a try early on and found ourselves 10 points down, but we did well to come back into the game.

“We worked hard for each other and scored a nice try by Jason Spice, but I always felt we were just hanging on.

“Our scrum and lineout, which has been good all season, fell apart and we were struggling to keep our own ball.

“The last 20 minutes proved that, when they finally cracked us. It was 15 against 15 and we don’t need to look for excuses.

“We aren’t up with teams like Toulouse just yet, but I do believe we are getting there. I just think the scoreline, result and performance show where we really are.

“We aren’t quite there with the big boys of European rugby.

“Losing hurts, whether it’s by one point or many points, but it’s frustrating because, I believe it’s the worst we have played for a long time. We didn’t perform anywhere near where we have for most of this season. We have played better than that away from home and that’s the most frustrating thing.”

Williams, however, believes the Blues came off second best to the side who will win this season’s Heineken Cup.

“Toulouse have to be favourites and I think they will go on to win it,” he said.