Toulouse assistant coach Jerome Kaino doesn’t expect another “walkover” against Bordeaux-Begles in the French Top 14 final on Saturday.

Kaino’s side hammered Bordeaux-Begles 59-3 in last season’s Top 14 decider, but have lost three straight games to the newly-crowned Champions Cup winners.

On the way to lifting the continental crown in May, Bordeaux-Begles beat Toulouse in the semi-finals, leaving the record 23-time French champions with just the league to play for this season.

“We never walk into a final thinking that it’s going to be a walkover like that one, but if history repeats itself like the semi-final, it’s going to be a tough one,” the former All Black loose forward told AFP. “Bordeaux-Begles have definitely been improving.

“They’re not the same team as the team that we played in the Top 14 final last year,” the 42-year-old added.

Kaino joined Toulouse in 2018, a year after winning the last of his 81 Test appearances, which included World Cup success in 2011 and four years later.

He retired from playing in 2021 with a Top 14 and Champions Cup double before transitioning into coaching as a skills specialist with the aristocrats of French and European rugby.

“Oh, it’s been amazing,” Kaino enthusiastically said of the change. “I wouldn’t say easy because the coaches definitely put in a lot of work and it’s definitely challenging coming from player to coach because when you’re a player, you worry about yourself, what’s needed for you to be at your best come Saturday or come the weekend.

“But as a coach, you’ve got to worry about 50 to 60 other players for them to be at the best on the weekend and that juggling act is a bit of a challenge sometimes,” he added.

The standout name among the 60 or so squad members Kaino works with at Stade Ernest-Wallon is France poster boy Antoine Dupont.

The scrumhalf will miss this weekend’s blockbuster in Paris, however, as he continues to recover from a serious knee injury suffered in March. Centre Peato Mauvaka and flying wing Ange Capuozzo are also out of action.

Dupont’s childhood friend Paul Graou will again stand-in for the 28-year-old, having scored three tries in his past five games including one in last Friday’s semi-final win over Bayonne.

“He’s improving. He works really hard to be able to get out there,” Kaino said. “How could you not get out there and work when you’re replacing one of the best players ever to lace up rugby boots?

“He’s driving the team really well and he’s been able to put us into another final,” he added.

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Standing in the way of Toulouse and a third-straight title are Bordeaux-Begles’ superstar backs, including international wings Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who was pronounced fit on Wednesday following time out with concussion, as well as their monstrous set of forwards, led by Tonga captain Ben Tameifuna in the front row.

“Big Ben. King of Tonga. He’s got a million nicknames,” Kaino joked. “They’ve been building really nicely and obviously they’ve proven that with their Champions Cup title.

“I could sit here all day and talk about their pack, but they’ve also got some gnarly backs as well which are able to counter-attack with the speed they have. They’ve been on fire recently.”

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Lionel Hahn/Getty Images