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A score to settle with Castres
Four years later, we take the same ones and we start again.
Castres first validated its ticket for the final of the Top 14 on Friday by dominating Toulouse, joined this Saturday by Montpellier which made Bordeaux-Bègles fold to the suffocation.
A success in Hérault which does not suffer from any dispute as the players of Philippe Saint-André knew how to impose their power and their determination on the troop of Christophe Urios.
Now it's time for a reunion between Castrais and Montpellier residents.
They will have a score to settle.
In 2018, they missed their game, overwhelmed by pressure.
An image summed up this final: the duel of the scrum halves, with the Tarnais Rory Kockott who had literally “ate the head” of his vis-à-vis the South African Juan Pienaar.
The whole thing is to know if the MHR will have matured and learned the lessons of the past.
An old-fashioned showdown
Lovers of great flights must have been bored.
Those, on the other hand, who appreciate violent arm wrestling, rough tackles and all-out combat got their money's worth.
Montpellier imposed pressure and harassment on Bordeaux-Bègles that command admiration.
Some would say the second half was a long purge.
But this mano a mano must have delighted those nostalgic for old-fashioned, harsh, ferocious rugby.
History will remember that the two most playful teams in the last four, Toulouse and UBB, fell by the wayside.
At the time of cleaver matches, return to combat and fierce contests.
The drop, the return of the lethal weapon
The trend had already emerged during the season, it was confirmed during this semi-final.
The drop played an essential role in the course of the match.
The MHR indeed succeeded two (Garbisi 13th, Bouthier 40th) and missed one (Garbisi, 72nd), when the UBB tried two for as many failures (Jalibert 24th, Trinh-Duc 59th).
That is to say five tempted in the same one, which is not common.
Faced with padlocked defences, the drop-goal has once again become a lethal weapon capable of making the difference.
Asked last December, the former emblematic opener of the Blues, Christophe Lamaison, had been right.
“In general, we see more drops during the final stages because there is a stake and it is a quick and efficient way to earn points
, he told us.
Now there are so many stakes and pressure during the regular season that the drop is also used at this time of the season.
The MHR – which admitted having worked on this gesture before the semi-final and garnered six points in the first half – will not contradict “Titou” Lamaison.
CLAW STRIKES
The UBB without a solution
The people of Bordeaux are therefore on vacation.
And they will be able to ask questions about how they managed this semi-final.
The defensive pressure of the MHR was certainly impressive, but they were never able to find the fault, to circumvent the wall.
Christophe Urios' players were clearly helpless, without a solution.
Unable to deploy their offensive game and clearly amorphous.
“I thought we would be better today
(Saturday).
But we were not enough actors in this match
, could only note the manager of the UBB, Christophe Urios.
The failed gamble with Jalibert
Faced with the inability of his team to unblock the situation, Christophe Urios attempted a coup by bringing out Matthieu Jalibert in the 56th minute to replace him with François Trinh-Duc.
An unusual change for an opener at this point in the game.
Before bringing him back to Santiago Cordero's place in the 69th.
“François could bring us something at that time with the quality of his kicking game and in the organization.
But then I wanted to have Matthieu on the pitch in the last ten minutes because he can unlock situations.
justified Christophe Urios.
In the end, it almost worked since Jalibert, on his return, was very close to scoring after a pass at the foot of Trinh-Duc (77th).
Except it didn't work.
The coaching and the coup attempted by Urios failed to reverse the trend.