TOPS
The shock of the 24th day of Top 14 kept its promises, especially in terms of suspense. Throughout the entire meeting, no team was able to gain the complete upper hand over its opponent to achieve a major victory. The Bordelais started strong, with aggression, to surprise the locals. Then the Parisians generally took the upper hand for the rest of the match before Bordeaux made a few attempts to get back into the match, in vain (22-18).
The former Castres Olympique, Rory Kockott shone with his experience and his mischief, this Sunday evening, against UBB. In particular to slip into the breach in the 13th minute and revive his team, asleep at kick-off. He was also involved in his team’s second try scored by Joris Segonds, the man who brought the most points to the Parisians’ score this Sunday evening (12 points/22).
In addition to reacting after two defeats of more than 40 points against Clermont, then Stade Toulousain, Stade Français had to react to avoid seeing UBB come back closer to them. After difficult first minutes in each of the two halves, Stade Français was able to regain the upper hand each time to score points and end up victorious in this shock.
FLOPS
“We lacked precision to make us appear more dangerous,” said Matthieu Jalibert at the microphone of Canal, after the match against Stade Français. The Bordeaux opener was the symbol of this almost permanent waste of the two teams. Many missed accuracy and other things to hurt offensively, even if the Stade Français players were intermittently smarter.
While he started off with a bang like his entire team on the Jean-Bouin pitch, the UBB winger lacked the inspiration to make a difference with the ball in hand during a large part of the match. The French international was, despite everything, injured during the match, which did not help him. His friend Bielle-Biarrey, placed at the back this Sunday evening, was able to show himself to his advantage despite the difficulties of the UBB.
Also read: Top 14: “a lot of regrets and frustration” for Bielle-Biarrey (UBB)
The referee Benoit Rousselet who prevented a Bordeaux offensive, Jéremy Ward who played without a shirt for a good thirty seconds, these small details of the second act were remembered more than the quality of play. If the big battle was appreciated, the offensive play disappeared in the second half due to numerous technical approximations from UBB, above all, but also from Stade Français.