Ben Lam’s UBB was stopped dead by La Rochelle. – Romain Perrocheau / AFP
- The Bordeaux-Bègles Union was severely beaten by Stade Rochelais (26-11) on the 20th day of Top 14.
- Author of a non-match, the Bordelais failed “on the fundamentals, in the state of mind” according to scrum-half Maxime Lucu.
- Still fifth in the championship, the UBB saw its competitors return to the race for the finals.
A lesson. This is what this Saturday went through Bordeaux-Bègles Union in front of
La Rochelle at the Chaban-Delmas stadium. And from the first to the last minute. “We completely missed it. We did not do what was necessary to be able to play a match of this level. It is very disappointing. We were catastrophic in the ground game, ”admitted
Jefferson Poirot, the Bordeaux captain. In the end, the addition is final, 26 to 11 for the neighbor from La Rochelle, who is continuing his excellent season and glued to three points behind the leader of the Top 14, Stade Toulousain.
For its part, the UBB confirms its slack. After a very good start to 2021, the Union remains on two defeats in three games. The warning received three weeks ago against Pau has not served to re-mobilize the group. Worse, Maxime Lucu’s teammates “failed on the fundamentals, in the spirit of state”. The observation of the scrum half is relentless:
“We weren’t there 100%. We always played backwards. We were children against them today. It’s a huge stop! “
UBB has no more wild cards in the race for the finals
After such a performance, everyone expected to see Christophe Urios come off his hinges. To launch into one of his rants of which he has the secret. But ultimately the UBB manager simply did not want to add more after “a match where there was no photo”. If he was “angry, upset” but also “disappointed and sad”, he “did not [surtout] not to understand why his team could have made a match like that ”. “It’s a bankruptcy of the players and the staff. We lack aggressiveness. I did not see a Bordeaux team starved to death, but it is not by sulphating everyone that we will move forward. When my players are in trouble, I need to help them, ”Urios adds. To put things flat and try to understand this non-match he planned to succeed as of Monday morning at 8 am his players to exchange.
For the moment, there is not yet fire in the lake for Union Bordeaux-Bègles but it has “burned its joker” as recalled by Jefferson Poirot. The Bordelais still occupy 5th place in the Top 14 but see Lyon return to one point and Castres to five in the race for the finals. The former pillar of the XV of France calls his teammates “to be silent, to work and to question themselves” each at his level. Maxime Lucu hopes that this rout “will serve as a lesson” so as not to be scared six days from the end of the championship.
Jefferson Poirot already promises “a reaction” in the coming weeks. And it will be necessary to avoid in particular a new rout in a week against Bristol, one of the best teams in Europe, in the round of 16 of the Champions Cup. UBB will then have four capital matches to come in the Top 14 with Agen, Montpellier, Bayonne and Castres. If “it is far from over” as Christophe Urios underlines, “we will quickly have to re-mobilize! “