UBB travels to England this Saturday January 22 to face the Leicester Tigers on the fourth day of the Champions Cup. Kick-off is at 4:15 p.m. A match placed under the sign of revenge for the men of Christophe Urios after their defeat 13 to 16 at the start of the competition last December against this same team.
The first objective is qualification
Even if the UBB performed very well last week against the Scarlets by winning 45-10 at Chaban-Delmas Delmas, the opponent that awaits them on Saturday is a sizeable one. A team still leading the English championship that the Unionists already know very well since it is the only one to have inflicted a defeat on them during the European tournament this year. A difficult defeat to digest according to Christophe Urios: “We left the match frustrated. We lacked precision. We didn’t know how to play certain shots well. The Tigers derailed us” explains the coach. “Yet we had the solution in the first leg but we just didn’t know how to make it happen”.
“If the UBB wants to win its ticket for the round of 16, we will have to play fair and collective” explains opener François Trinh Duc. “We saw it in the first match, if they won it was not only thanks to their very good footwork, but it was also because the wingers rose very quickly to put pressure on the scorers.”. Before concluding “The forwards must quickly redo the line for example, we understood with this defeat that everyone had to be fully against Leicester”.
A possible qualification before playing the tigers?
Union Bordeaux-Bègles could qualify for the round of 16 without even playing Leicester. This requires that Castres does not win with the bonus point against Harlequins on Friday evening. In any case, an early qualification will not cause UBB to lose course, explains Thomas Jolmes. “Even if we qualify on Friday, we’re going to play hard. We don’t want to take 40 points, it’s not in our mentality” highlight the second line.
– Erwan Chassin
A revamped workforce
The bad news comes from Guido Petti. The Argentinian second line affected by a meniscus is unavailable until next March. Other players are rested for this game like Mathieu Jalibert, Jandre Marais, Thierry Paiva, Vadim Cobilas and UJ Seuteni. The staff intends to protect its players.
Difficult today to know what place will have the young Louis Bielle-Biarrey author of a hat-trick against the Scarlets. “He’s only 18, he hasn’t recovered well from his match yet, you have to give him time.” says Christophe Urios, while recalling that “The Leicester Tigers are not the Scarlets”.
Match commented live on France Bleu Gironde.