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After dominating the English from Gloucester for a long time on their lawn at the opening of the Champions Cup, Union Bordeaux-Bègles ended up giving in in the last twenty minutes (22-17), conceding a crippling 17-0.
“It fell apart because we had “momentums”
(highlights, editor’s note)
in the match that we couldn’t hold on to, balls in the scoring area that we lost too quickly.
We were feverish and we lost the ball too easily,
could only see Julien Laïrle, the Girondin co-trainer.
It's infuriating because we gave energy to the opposing team, we gave them too much.
With a gap of 12 points for us, we should have controlled this match better.
When you are dominated in the last 20 minutes, you can ask yourself the question of the contribution of the bench.
In the wake of recent successful seasons (semi-finals in the Champions Cup and in the Top 14), the people of Bordeaux are struggling this year to regain their efficiency and control.
They are only eighth in the Top 14 (five wins, one draw, six losses) and the stormy departure of their manager Christophe Urios did not really provoke the desired shock.
Proof of this inconstancy: the UBB has never chained two victories in a row since the resumption.
"The stigmata of a team lacking confidence"
It is above all outside its bases that Bordeaux-Bègles struggles to express itself.
It was screaming against the "Cherry and White", where Matthieu Jalibert and his teammates tensed up and let slip a victory that stretched out their arms.
“I have the feeling that we are panicking, that we are afraid of losing the match more than the desire to win it.
We are hesitant, we have less speed in our game, we attack the balls less quickly, we do things at 50%.
These are the stigmata of a team lacking in confidence
,” admitted Julien Laïrle.
This Friday, the UBB has no room for error in Chaban-Delmas.
But it's a colossal challenge ahead against the Durban Sharks, one of the South African franchises integrated into the competition this season.
A formidable armada which has no less than eleven Springboks in its ranks, including six world champions and not the least: the captain and flanker Siya Kolisi, the second line Eben Etzebeth (former from Toulon), the center Lukhanyo Am, the versatile three -quarterbacks Makazole Mapimpi, the formidable hooker Bongo Mbonambi and the pillar Thomas du Toit.
Read alsoRugby: "Naïveté", full stadiums, arbitration ... The new-look "European" Cup seen from South Africa
And, for their great debut in the competition, the South Africans did not tremble by overcoming, at home, English Harlequins (39-31), with in particular a strong try from Mbonambi and a double from Mapimpi in the first half hour.
For the UBB, this clash at the top will have a very special flavor since, in the South African staff, we find Yannick Bru who will become the manager … Bordeaux next year.
After having integrated and shone in the United Rugby Championship (ex-Celtic League) last year - victory of the Stormers against the Bulls in the final -, the franchises from the other side of the globe want to impose their law in Europe.
"The ambition of South Africans is total"
“
This year, the ambition of all the franchises is really to bring back trophies, especially in the Champions Cup.
The ambition is total
,” explained Yannick Bru recently.
And to warn: “
France is a very popular country.
South African franchises are really looking forward to going to the Old Continent, and especially to France.
(...) There is really a positive view of the population on French rugby.
And they want to find out.
»
This season, Bordeaux-Bègles has a new nugget from South Africa in its ranks, winger Madosh Tambwe, who did not take long to acclimatize to French rugby, he who went through the Sharks in 2020 "
We will really have to be very careful with the Springboks players because they are coming back from the Autumn tour, they are in a good dynamic and they will have acquired automatisms between them"
, he explains on the club's website.
The one who scored six tries in eight games with UBB thinks that
“the coaches will give them the leadership because many of them have already played in Europe
,
it is a collective effort that will have to be put in place against them.
Even if the eleven Springboks will not necessarily play the match this Friday, they also have players who are rising in their team and who will be able to put us in difficulty
.
Read alsoRugby: the objective of South African franchises is to win the European Cup, insists Yannick Bru
Jandré Marais, the emblematic South African second line of the UBB, also played for the Sharks (2009-2013) and therefore knows what awaits his people.
“First of all, we are back in Chaban, we love playing in this stadium.
The Sharks are a very good team.
We watched all their matches.
Against the Harlequins, they finished at thirteen, but they still won.
They arrive with a lot of internationals,
he recalled on TV7 (below).
It will be a very special game for me.
Like all South African teams, they have big forwards, they are very strong on the ball carried.
“And to warn:”
Behind, they have Mapimpi, who is a superstar.
Like Semi Radradra
(ex-UBB Fijian center)
at the time, he can score tries on his own.”
The UBB has now been notified.
There will be no surprise effect.
