Draft in front of Biarritz, the UBB still remains the leader

Bordeaux-Bègles, upset by a valiant Biarritz team rewarded with a defensive bonus, hardly won (30-27) but retained its place as leader of the Top 14 at the end of the 14th day. With 46 points, the Bordelais remain at the top of the French championship ahead of Toulouse (41 points) and Montpellier (40 points), whose match against Toulon was postponed due to cases of Covid-19 in the RCT workforce. The Girondins, who had not played for three weeks, in the collective preparation for this first match of the year truncated by the Covid-19, have rarely justified their leadership position.

For an hour, Christophe Urios’ men, lacking in rhythm, rarely succeeded in catching those of Shaun Sowerby, who had to be forgiven for their failed end of the match on Monday against Montpellier. It took the return of his gala bench (Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu, Jandre Marais, Cameron Woki) for the leader to distance himself from Basques suddenly less dashing. In quick succession, they scored two tries by the Italian winger Federico Mori – another incoming – (64th) at the conclusion of a first hand try with five Bordelais concerned, and UJ Seuteni (67th) giving hope for an end to the match quiet (25-6).

An end to the game with twists and turns

But instead of managing this advantage in the score, Guido Petti’s teammates fell into defensive failures and largesse which put the BO logically in the game after the test in strength of Tornike Jalagonia (71st). It was believed that this visitor burst was only a parenthesis when Mori again went to corner (76th), an action on which a cameraman was seriously injured and evacuated on a stretcher. Did this incident play out at the end of the match for the Bordelais, who became feverish again to protect their offensive bonus? Perhaps seeing the Biarrots get into them, push them back, and in turn score two tries by Romain Lonca (79th) and especially Francis Saili (80th + 5) to get a well-deserved bonus point.