Top 14 – L’enseignement du week-end : Bordeaux inaugure sa nouvelle ère
A month after the eviction of the emblematic Urios, this Girondin success snatched from the European champion could well mark the advent of the Laïrle-Charrier duo. The Bordeaux new growth took its date from Deflandre.
Was there a sign? When the doors of Deflandre opened, you would have thought you were… In Bordeaux! Here, like in the spring when the La Rochelle public had neutralized that of Chaban, before seeing his people, from the first leg of the Champions Cup, put one foot and four toes in the quarters. A semester later, the UBB, welcomed by its boiling “kop”, gave back to its pet peeve, unbeatable, until then, for three years. It is a fact. Christophe Urios had never found the key in the lair of the European champion. His former assistants, yes. Quite a symbol, five weeks after the sudden opening of a new chapter. Or how – relying on a “very simple strategyin the eyes of Zack Holmes. Kicking and conquest» and by countering La Rochelle on its bases – this major success legitimizes the transitional function prize of the duo Julien Laïrle-Frédéric Charrier.
“The Beginning of the Revolt”
Refusing, prudent, to project himself further than the double reception to come, from Montpellier then from Bayonne, the first named nevertheless savors what looks like, vision of observers, to a founding act. “We win with the European champions, it’s not insignificant! We are trying to write a short course. We have seven months left to live at UBB, Fred and me. We try to bring our touch. The players are very invested. Some pictures are worth a thousand words. Nothing but that, already, of Maxime Lucu, in a trance, on his knees, banging his fists on the lawn of Deflandre. “Take a good look at their reactions at the end, does not fail to underline Ronan O’Gara. All on the ground or jumping in the air. Some teams make their season to win here. It will be a turning point in that of Bordeaux. Kudos to them.” Good player, the manager knows something about it. You only have to see the change of gear of the Pau Section since the capture of the bastion of the Atlantic (21-38), mid-October.
9:30 p.m. The match has been over for almost an hour, a Girondin finally presents himself to the journalists. The atmosphere in the locker room? “I lost my voice a little”, smiles the pillar Sipili Falatea, whose proposals reflect the scope of this first benchmark success of the UBB relieved of Urios. “The Beginning of the Revolt. We wanted to send a message. We didn’t sell everything but this victory can be the common thread for the future. It proves to us that we can do great things, we just need to have confidence. To leave with four points is the best Christmas present.”
“It’s sure that it’s been a while since we pulled the mouth”, rebounds Julien Laïrle. But the former manager of Soyaux-Angoulême (2013-2019), who guided the Charente club from Fédérale 2 to Pro D2 in the space of three years, knows from experience the absolute need to “Quick switch. Especially us, the staff”. After the European champion, what could be better than the reception of the tenant of Brennus, to try to magnify this new era?