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Madosh Tambwe solo
The Congolese winger who was described as "a bomb" by Christophe Urios upon his arrival in Gironde, has 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 late in 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 winning try, the one that sends UBB to San Sebastian to challenge La Rochelle next week.
Bordeaux coaching
No Urios, no problem. Frédéric Charrier and Julien Laïrle were able to take full measure of their squad and never panicked this Sunday evening while events pushed against them for a while. Their second-half coaching and in particular the entry of a new first line brought a new breath to the team. Scrambled in the scrum for more than half time, Bordeaux revived 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 jump for the try of Diaby (47th) totally restarting the game.
See alsoTop 14: at the end of the suspense, UBB dismisses Lyon and joins La Rochelle in the semis
Tuisova for her last
Before joining Racing next season, the Fijian centre showed his power, speed and qualities, each more impressive than the last, during this play-off. Qualities put at 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 beautiful collective work, to flatten the second try of his team. Solid in defense, a real deterrent, the one who is one of the best players in the entire Top 14 still held his rank this Sunday night against a team that could not do anything against him, when he had the ball.
FLOPS
Lyon's irregularity
This barrage only confirmed the difficulties of the LOU, encountered throughout the season. With great potential and unanswered dominance for many minutes, Baptiste Couilloud's teammates are able to extinguish themselves at once. 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 in front, the LOU conceded two tries in less than ten minutes by completely disorganizing in defense. Couilloud said after the meeting: "we can have regrets." Perfectly understandable, given the scenario.
Gironde indiscipline
At the beginning of the last twenty minutes, not many people gave much of the skin of the UBB. Firstly because Lyon have scored 33 tries in the last twenty minutes this season (nobody does better) but also because Bordeaux have played thirteen for a while. The clash between Tom Willis and Felix 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.
The absence of video refereeing
Lyon fans may cry foul and the lack of video refereeing at Gerland is already making a lot of noise. The Lyon public rumbled on the try 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 goal referee (a referee was placed in each goal to facilitate decisions) can be debated. Test by Mathieu Jalibert, which in slow motion looks suspicious given that the international opener clearly seems to drop the ball before the line. A decision necessarily fraught with consequences.
