Top 14: winner of Toulouse, Bordeaux-Bègles asserts itself and takes the lead of the championship

To remember a Chaban-Delmas stadium in Bordeaux and its some 32,000 seats filled to the brim, we must probably look back to the heyday of the Girondins, the former tenants of the place.

A sold-out match on the banks of the Garonne: the derby between the two big cities of the southwest and the great shock of the 12th day of the Top 14 deserved it.

Bordeaux-Bègles - Toulouse This Saturday, it was quite simply the duel between the two best teams of this first part of the season, a match which is gradually becoming a clasico of French rugby.

The duel of the lords of the oval with multiple internationals on each side, however, gave birth to a little mouse in terms of score in the first period. Two penalties from Matthieu Jalibert (10th, 17th) only allowed the Bordelais to take a 6-point lead (6-0) to return to the locker room. Obviously insufficient to spend a second part of the evening warm.

To maintain the suspense, the Toulousains still made up their delay and even passed in front just after the break after a test from François Cros and a transformation from Romain Ntamack (49th, 6-7). But in front of its 32,214 fans, Bordeaux could not let their guard down so easily. Besides, Christophe Urios' troops did not look for long for the resources to digest this little blow behind the head. On a penalty, Maxime Lucu initially allows the premises to come back in front (9-7, 53rd). In the process, it is a test by Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer which allows the Bordelais to take to the open sea (14-7, 58th). From that moment, the Bordeaux mission became simple: hold out for 20 big minutes. Hold on to win a prestigious victory and take the lead in the Top 14.

They did better than that by increasing their lead with a new penalty from Lucu (70th) before winning 17-7.

UBB had faced Toulouse four times last season in the Top 14 and the European Cup without ever winning.

Finally, it's done.

“It was a tough but complete match, successful.

We were very good in defense and we can be proud.

It's a meeting that will make us grow before switching to the European Cup, ”concludes Bordeaux's Cameron Woki at the microphone of Canal +.