If in the stands the Olympic Biarritz
account celebrate the 20th anniversary of his first title of champion of France in the first divisionwon against Agen, in the locker room, the atmosphere is far from festive. Victorious last week at Sapiac
against Montauban (46-32), the Biarrots delivered their most successful performance
since the start of the season, thanks in particular to its experimental hinge
Aurrekoetxea – Germainand the essential second line Johnny Dyer
.
The teammates of Guy Millar still remain cautious before the 7th day of Pro D2
. The objective is now to confirm their progress this Friday, October 14, but the task promises to be tough against Agenais who are more comfortable away than at home at the start of the seasonwith two wins away from their base against only one at home.
They said
Roger Ripol, Biarritz scrum coach: “We recovered well. We played on Thursday and there, we are going to play on Friday, that is to say that it allows us to win one day, that is the first thing. Second thing, we have more certainties. It’s good to win, because the surroundings and the environment are calmer. In the content, there were plenty of good things against Montauban, but there were also things to improve. For example, we insisted on carrying balls.
Our goal, of course, is to defend them, but the ideal is not to take a penalty. If we don’t take penalties, the opponent will have trouble getting a touch five or ten meters from our in-goal. We have to anticipate, if we don’t make mistakes on the ground, if we are disciplined in defense, we won’t take penalties, and if we don’t take penalties, we won’t take balls carried.“
Barnabé Couilloud, scrum-half from Biarritz: “We have serenity, because we know that we are coming out of an away victory, and it is not easy to go for away victories. But there are also many, many alerts. We know that what hurts us a little, especially at the start of the season, or even two years ago, is that as soon as we manage to put in good performances, we often have trouble following up. It is not because we are going to seek an away victory that we are going to win afterwards, especially when we have won a match where there has not really been much play, that we say to ourselves that it will be easier. We know we have to be on alert because it’s going to be a complicated game.”
The compositions
Update on the infirmary
The Irish third line Dave O’Callaghan (knee) is still too tight, even though he took part in the set-up. Charlie Francoz (back) and Joe Tomane are still in trouble. Quentin Samaran, Luka Azariashvili and Giorgi Nutsubidze are expected to return in the coming weeks. For Zakaria El Fakirthere is no date scheduled for his return yet.
Match to live live and in full on France Bleu Pays Basque
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