Maxime Lucu and the Bordelo-Béglais have a job not to end a new season empty-handed. – Lionel Bonaventure / AFP
- After three weeks without a match and a preparation very disturbed by the Covid, the UBB lost on Saturday in Toulouse, in the semi-final of the Champions Cup (21-9).
- The team of Christophe Urios must now whip to hope to hang the wagon of the qualified in Top 14.
No, she did not take a rouste, as some observers promised her. But yes, the Union Bordeaux-Bègles lost Saturday at the Stade Toulousain a semi-final of the Champions Cup that it probably could not win (21-9). “I’m not going to whine or cry, I’m not part of that caste,” manager Christophe Urios said afterwards.
The talkative sports boss of the UBB even confided “a feeling of pride” despite the frustration, to evoke the first meeting of his players for three weeks, due to the Covid-19 epidemic which caused the putting to sleep group training.
“Breath a little short”
“At times, we also may have had a little shortness of breath, with six guys who had the Covid on the sheet [de match] », Observes Jefferson Poirot, usual captain but on the bench at Ernest-Wallon after having himself been affected by the coronavirus. The former international pillar, however, does not want to use the epidemic to excuse a setback among Toulouse residents who run like machines. “I can’t tell you that we would have played another game if we had had two full weeks of preparation. “
As we have to find something positive other than with PCR tests, we listen to Urios again. “We are a young team and a young club. Last year we discovered the final phase of the Challenge Cup [défaite en demi-finale contre Bristol], this time that of the Champions Cup. It has to serve as an experience. “And very quickly, because the UBB has a job in the league. “Our ambition has not changed: to be part of the Top 6”, asserts the technician. This would also be a first for the club, after the frustrating epilogue of last season, when the UBB marched on a championship prematurely stopped due to a pandemic.
Three matches in one week
With three points behind and two games less than Lyon, current sixth, Mathieu Jalibert’s teammates should no longer dawdle. “There are six games left, we have to switch quickly”, underlines Urios aware of the decisive week of May 8 to 15, punctuated by three games: two trips to Bayonne and Agen then reception of Castres … The road is long towards a first title, especially when the Covid regularly scrambles the plans.