Yes, there is always a bad student in the class. But, take away Lyon, which was corrected by the Bulls (59-19), France made two big moves this Saturday in the Champions Cup. It started with Stade Rochelais, a huge winner for the Stormers (21-22), in South Africa, in conditions made complicated by the wind.
Trailing by 16 points at half-time, Ronan O’Gara’s men pulled off an incredible comeback and benefited from the support of the wind which sent Libbock’s last-minute conversion attempt wide of the posts. “We knew the dangers of letting them score, we were cornered in defense,” reacted Ultan Dillane, the second row from La Rochelle. But hey, we were lucky that the wind was terrible. It was a nightmare in December. They were strong, they pressed on. »
The Bordeaux festival
Far from the narrow score in South Africa, Union Bordeaux-Bègles produced a new offensive festival against Saracens (45-12) at the start of the evening. The three-time English European champions, who had already taken a beating at the Lescure stadium (55-15) in January, during the group stage, turned the other cheek in the round of 16.
Dominant in the first period, but not necessarily rewarded, the Bordelais put on a show after the lemon, scoring five tries, including two tries from Louis Bielle-Biarrey. We will therefore find the two Atlantic clubs in the quarter-finals. Bordeaux will face Harlequins while La Rochelle will play against the winner of the match between the Irish Leinster and the English Leicester.
“It was a full match from the whole team, it’s not easy to do it a second time [face au même adversaire], rejoiced Mateo Garcia, elected man of the match, who replaced Matthieu Jalibert, who was preserved. We had some excellent bigs, same thing for the three-quarter line. »