UBB in the eighth, the La Rochelle festival, Racing can’t do it… What to remember from Sunday’s matches

After Racing’s new defeat against Bath, La Rochelle managed to win against Leicester on Sunday, to regain hope in the race for the round of 16. UBB, for its part, validated its qualification thanks to its demonstration against Saracens.

The outcome is near. The third and penultimate weekend of the group stage of this Champions Cup concluded, Sunday January 14, with the qualification for the round of 16 of Union Bordeaux-Bègles, clear winner of Saracens (55- 15). Before that, Racing 92 experienced new disillusionment on the Bath field (29-25) while La Rochelle gave itself the means to dream of seeing the next round thanks to its clear success against Leicester (45-12 ).

Contract fulfilled brilliantly for UBB

Like Stade Toulouse the day before, Bordeaux-Bègles was supported by its French internationals to defeat Saracens and confirm its presence in the elimination phase. If Louis Bielle-Biarrey opened the scoring on the Gironde side, his compatriots were not left out. After only 35 minutes of play, it was a 100% French XV try – flattened by Damian Penaud after a superb breakthrough from Matthieu Jalibert andthem relays of Maxime Lucu and Yoram Moefana – who allowed UBB to take the bonus.

With this success concluded on a multitude of achievements (9), the Unionists regain first place in Group A, previously taken by LOU, and are ideally positioned before their last meeting. To receive Chaban-Delmas in the round of 16, they will only need a small bonus point against the Blue Bulls next Saturday.

La Rochelle and the pride of the champion

Slapped by Leinster at home then beaten by a point by the Stormers, the Rochelais had their backs against the wall before receiving Leicester, but they did not tremble. Annoyed, the title holders inflicted a correction on the English, scoring a slew of seven tries in the process. Dominant and diligent, the Maritimes validated the offensive bonus just after the break, to then play better. From this slap, we will remember in particular the manner, between the insolence of even thinking of going to flatten at 13 against 15 – after two warnings received by Jonathan Danty and Will Skelton – and the audacity of certain actions symbolized by the second personal attempt of Teddy Thomas after 80 meters alone.

“We didn’t make it easy by losing the first two games, so we started our mission. We’re going to stay calm, we’ve done half the job, but we still have a complicated match.” summarized Grégory Alldritt, starting for the first time in the Champions Cup this season after his post-World Cup break, at the microphone of France 2. Next week, the Rochelais will challenge Sale in a game that looks like a round of 16, since the winner will be qualified for the future. But the capital confidence should be on the side of the French club, after passing the 40 point mark for the first time since last April.

Third defeat in a row for Racing

The horizon of Ciel et Blanc darkens. Despite a healthy lead of 14 points twenty minutes from time on the Bath pitch, Racing conceded their third defeat in a row in the competition. Despite remarkable performances from winger Henry Arundell and scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, author of 15 points, Stuart Lancaster’s players, often undisciplined, suffered too much in the scrum to prevent the return of the English, who held on after the red card addressed to pillar Alfie Barbeary in the 75th minute.

Like the thread of the game, it was their destiny that the Racingmen let slip from their hands on Sunday. This setback seriously complicates their task of qualifying for the knockout stages, as they will now have to wait for a poor result from Ulster next weekend, in addition to beating Cardiff. In their misfortune, the Ile-de-France residents still remain fifth ahead of their future opponents, a place which would put them back in the Challenge Cup.