A bitter, tense duel, coaches looking for each other and on the ground, it was not until the last second that La Rochelle took the best of Union Bordeaux Bègles on Saturday during this clash of the 22nd day of the Top 14 ( 16-15).. In the standings, the Bordelais remain second in the championship but see their opponents of the day return to the podium and come back to four small points just four days from the end of the season.
Undisciplined Rochelais…
The tension between the two teams was palpable from the first minutes of play, like this clash in the wake of Maxime Lucu’s opener from a penalty. And it will not be the last since all the Bordeaux points will be scored on kicks. Despite two misses on distant attempts, the Bordeaux scrum-half converted no less than four penalties to allow the Girondins to stay in the game and even often lead in the score.
“Nothing is easy against La Rochelle, it’s a rather closed match. We can’t manage to touch the side areas and the players are very tight”, noted at the microphone of Canal + at half-time Christophe Urios, the coach of the Bordelais who returned to the locker room with two small points in advance ( 12-10). On the other side, the hooker Pierre Bourgarit pointed out the errors of his people in the first act: “Too much indiscipline. Each time we score points, we allow them to pick up the score. »
… but lethal on their offensives
And the Rochelais could have harbored regrets as they were much more inspired than the locals in the game, like their two tries scored in the first period but not converted. After insisting for long seconds near the Bordeaux posts, Tawera Kerr-Barlow extracts the ball and transmits to his hinge partner Ihaia West who in turn finds the three-quarter center Jonathan Danty who only has to flatten the ball behind the line. A few minutes later, it was again Ihaia West who was formidable in building up the visitors’ game and delivered a superb assist for Raymond Rule, lonely on the left side and who scored La Rochelle’s second try without difficulty.
In the last minutes of the first act, Bordeaux tries to progress on the ground by passing through the air with candles. Little by little, Christophe Urios’ men managed to bring real danger to the La Rochelle defense. So much so that they finally think of registering their first try of the game but Rémi Lamerat crawls before flattening the ball. “We should have scored at one or two actions. They come twice and they score. It’s a problem we’ve had for some time, ”regrets Maxime Lucu at the end of the first period.
Revenge next weekend?
Upon returning from the locker room, the second period was the scene of an even tougher fight with more ambitious Bordeaux players. However, it was Ihaia West who restored the advantage to the visitors on penalty before a 25-minute phase without any points. Five minutes from the end of regulation time, Maxime Lucu thinks of offering victory to his people in his favorite exercise but his La Rochelle counterpart has the last word in added time.
“I’m very happy with the mood of the guys. Everything is not perfect but the score is there and we take four points away, observed Romain Sazy at the final whistle. One week out of two we are in the nails and the week after we are corrected. I hope it will restart well because the next games are important now to stay in this top 6. ”
Passing very close to registering a test which would have done good to the dolphin of the Top 14, Rémi Lamerat as for him evoked the double confrontation to come in the European Cup between the two formations: “It’s hard, another defeat home. We’re meeting next weekend. It’s our pet peeve. They are tough and know how to play us perfectly because we can’t turn things around, but it would be too simplistic to say that they’re just a tough team. »
