TOPS
The Congolese winger who was described as “a bomb” by Christophe Urios on his arrival in Gironde, again confirmed the words of his former coach. Absent for a half, he revealed himself at the best of times, a bit like his team. His two tries at the end of the match (69th and 77th) changed everything in the game and are the result of two personal exploits. Two sharp interval shots that let the LOU defense see the damage. The second is none other than the test for victory, the one that sends UBB to San Sebastian to challenge La Rochelle next week.
No Urios, no problem. Frédéric Charrier and Julien Laïrle knew how to take full measure of their workforce and never panicked this Sunday evening when events pushed against them for a while. Their second half coaching and in particular the entry of a new front row breathed new life into the team. Jostled in the scrum for more than a half, Bordeaux came back to life after the entries of Kaulashvili, Oghre and Falatea, who reversed the balance of power on their first scrum. A few seconds later the English hooker (Oghre) offered himself a masterful leap for Diaby’s try (47th) completely relaunching the game.
Before joining Racing next season, the Fijian center demonstrated his power, speed and qualities, each more impressive than the next during this play-off. Qualities put to work on the second try of LOU in the first half (30th) where he mystifies the Bordeaux defense and launches the offensive of his own 22m before finding the ball a few seconds later after a good collective work , to flatten his team’s second try. Solid in defense, a real weapon of deterrence, the one who is one of the best players in the entire Top 14 still held his rank this Sunday evening against a team that could not do anything against him, when he had the ball .
FLOPS
This barrage only confirmed the difficulties of the LOU, encountered throughout the season. With a very good potential and an unanswered domination for many minutes, Baptiste Couilloud’s teammates are able to suddenly die out. This is what happened in the second half and especially when the team held a good lead in the score. And yet despite the numerical superiority after two yellow cards opposite, the LOU conceded two tries in less than ten minutes by completely disorganizing in defense. Couilloud said after the meeting: “we can have regrets”. Completely understandable, given the scenario.
At the entrance of the last twenty minutes, not many people gave much of the skin of the UBB. Firstly because Lyon scored 33 tries in the last twenty minutes this season (no one does better) but also because Bordeaux played at thirteen for a while. The clash between Tom Willis and Félix Lambey earned both men a yellow card before Georgian left prop Kaulashvili joined his partner on the bench a few minutes later, due to a high tackle on Dylan Cretin. Fortunately for Bordeaux Bègles, this did not have a crucial impact on the result.
Lyon supporters may cry foul and the absence of video refereeing at Gerland is already causing a lot of talk. The Lyon public rumbled on the test of Diaby (47th) believing that the third line had lost control of the ball before flattening. But the first try of the game validated by Ludovic Cayre after certainty of the in-goal referee (a referee was placed in each in-goal to facilitate decisions) can be debated. Test signed Mathieu Jalibert, which in slow motion seems suspicious given that the international opener clearly seems to let go of the ball before the line. A decision of course with serious consequences.
