But who can stop Racing? By winning on the lawn of Bordeaux-Bègles, the men of Laurent Travers chained a 6th success in a row in the Top 14 and took the opportunity to overtake Toulouse in the standings. The Sky and White occupy the 5th place this Sunday evening. For its part, the UBB, leader of the Top 14, conceded a second loss in a row following the defeat in Toulon last weekend.
What you must remember
Faced with Racingmen in the rush, the UBB initially struggled to fully enter the game. The start of the match is to the advantage of the Ile-de-France residents who take advantage of Gironde’s lack of discipline. The locals commit three faults in the first six minutes, Maxime Machenaud penalizes once morest the posts and the Ciel et Blancs lead from the start 6-0. In diesel mode this Sunday evening, the leader of the Top 14 will however wake up. After 20 minutes of play, the Bordelais let the power of their forwards speak to score the first try of the match. Tongan hooker Ben Tameifuna pierces the Ile-de-France defense following a carried ball and UBB takes the lead (7-6).
Overall dominating, the Bordelais regularly approach Racing’s goal but are too often penalized by some annoying inaccuracies in the area of truth. Faced with Gironde’s offensive desires, Racing opposes solidity and defensive rigor at all times (87% of successful tackles). Despite several missed chances, UBB kept their advantage at the break following an extremely tight and intense first period.
Yet little penalized in the first period, the Racingmen start at fault at the start of the second period, leaving the young Matéo Garcia, 19, to give the UBB a four-point lead. The Ciel et Blancs are struggling to start this second act, multiplying the misalignments and unsteady passes. But the locals do not take advantage of this and will also make some technical blunders like this uncertain touch with damaging consequences.
On the action that follows, the Argentinian Juan Imhoff silences the Stade Chaban-Delmas. After a 70m race punctuated by a kick to get rid of the Gironde defense, the Ile-de-France winger took everyone by storm to score the second try of the match. Racing takes control (13-10).
Despite this flash, the face of the match has not changed one iota. The meeting remains bitter, the spaces are always so rare. Bordeaux are tied on a penalty (13-13) but it is the Ile-de-France residents who are the most threatening. But between the committed forwards and the balls lost on Bordeaux conquests in touch, the Racingmen do not make this domination bear fruit.
But a high tackle from Jean-Baptiste Dubié on Camille Chat, not far from the end of the match, offered the match point to Ben Volavola who did not tremble once morest the poles. Racing won 16-13 and followed up with a 6th victory in the Top 14. For Bordeaux, the setback was confirmed, a week following the setback conceded to Mayol once morest Toulon (21-18).
The player: Thomas Jolmes
Despite the defeat of his team, he is undoubtedly the individuality that stands out in this very collective meeting on both sides. If he did not succeed in everything on the offensive plan, the 2nd line of Bordeaux brought a lot by his impact in the rucks and his domination in the air.
This tall hairy 2.04 m was a constant poison for the alignment of Racing and was extremely aggressive, especially on the defensive phases. In the second half, when Racing came dangerously close to the Bordeaux goal, it was once more he who won at high altitude to recover the ball and deprive the visitors of essential ammunition.
The number: 9
Before this meeting, Bordeaux-Bègles had chained 9 successes in its den of Chaban-Delmas. We had to go back to last season and a match once morest Toulouse on the 26th day (10-21) to find traces of a last Bordeaux loss at home in the Top 14. Symbol of the feat achieved by Racing this Sunday evening .
