With five changes in his starting XV, Olympic Biarritz retains the backbone of the team that snatched the draw against Nevers last Thursday. This Friday, September 23, against Carcassonne, the soundtrack is already playing big: in the event of a victory, it would only balance its accounts, since after four matches Biarritz has only one victory for two defeats and a draw, and is in 13th place in the French Pro D2 championship. In the event of a defeat, however, Biarritz would have no choice but to win in Montauban. in two weeks, to make up for lost points.
In front, Carcassonne is 10th, just one point behind Biarritz. Dam last year, USC comes to Aguiléra with two former Biarrots, who will both be holders : Vakhtangi Akhobadze at the post of right pillar, and Brieuc Plessis-Couillaud in the center of the line of three-quarters.
The essays
They said
Shaun Sowerby, Biarritz forwards coach : “Carcassonne is a team with great qualities. They are as physical and dense as any other team. The danger is real. Man to man, it does not matter if we suffer impacts sometimes, but collectively we must not suffer. We’re going to play hard, our way. If we have control, it will be fine, but we still lack it, it will be very complicated. But even if the match is difficult, I have confidence in our team, they are capable of finding solutions to bring back a result. We have to figure out how to put the parts together so that the machine runs smoothly.”
Steve Barry, Biarritz winger : “We know that it’s a big conquest team, painful in the ground game, but we have the rucks and the contact phases. But I also think that we have our say, we also have a good team in these sectors, it could be a hell of a fight on the ground. We have good scratchers on our side too (laughs) so yeah, it’s going to be fun.”
Meeting to follow live and in full on France Bleu Pays Basque