Mark Kheirallah : « The best way to handle pressure is to make sure you do everything you can at training »
Mark Kheirallah, fullback for Featherstone Rovers, talks about the win against Toulouse Olympique and looks forward to the end of the season.
How does it feel to come back to play in Toulouse at the Minimes stadium with Featherstone ?
I was pretty excited to play against Toulouse, to play against my friends, I also really enjoyed being back at Minimes. It was where it all started around 10 years ago and to get a chance to play there one more time was pretty special.
A difficult first half for you and a superb second half, what did the coach say at half-time ?
All he told us was to minimise making errors on the end of sets, like our winger dropping two balls off kicks, and improve our own kicking game. I thought we were better at that in the second half and that’s why we were able to score some points at the end.
What do you think of your individual performance ?
I thought I had a solid performance, I was in the right place at the right time and defensively was pretty strong in how I organised the line.
The semi-final is coming, are you going to modify the preparation for this elimination match ?
I’m not going to change too much, I try and prepare the best I can for every game. Doesn’t matter if it’s a final or not.
A final against Toulouse is looming, you are the favourite playing at home, how can you not put pressure on yourself ?
The best way to handle pressure is to make sure you do everything you can at training. As long as you don’t take shortcuts, you should be pretty comfortable come grand final because you know there’s nothing else you can do, you just have to go out and play the game that you love.
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