“Best club in the world”, “a mountain”: how Bordeaux intends to compete with Toulouse

“We will have to put the right ingredients in, otherwise we know the result in advance.” Maxime Lucu, captain of Bordeaux-Bègles, did not beat around the bush for long before the Top 14 final.

If his team does not play its best performance, this Friday June 28 in Marseille, it will have difficulty overcoming Toulouse, favorite and which remains on 9 victories in a row in the final, all competitions combined.

“The mountain” Toulouse

Leader of the regular season despite the numerous absences of its internationals, more than 100 tries scored this year, with an exceptional experience of the finals, Toulouse has what it takes to impress. And impress, inevitably.

“It’s the best club in the world,” says center Yoram Moefana. “It’s clearly a mountain given their season and their track record,” continues Maxime Lucu.

It’s exciting to face them in the final. When I was little in Colomiers, we loved playing each other because there was always high intensity.

Bordeaux’s lack of experience

In addition to the richness of its squad or the quality of its play, Toulouse benefits from this experience of finals that the Bordeaux group does not have. At UBB, only Penaud and Tameifuna are French champions. “It’s certain that in terms of experience, they have more experience than us,” recognizes Lucu, logically. “They are used to playing and winning these games. We’re here, it’s our first final.”

But admitting to being self-conscious or defeated in advance, the Gironde club brushes that aside. “We don’t compare ourselves. We don’t even talk about Toulouse very little,” says manager Yannick Bru. “It’s a final, a special match. In a match, anything can happen. We will now unleash all our forces into the battle,” Lucu promises.

Toulouse knows how to outwit the opponent, and knows how to win a final. But we have shown that we are capable of competing with them during the season. It is up to us to write our adventure, and to show that we have pride.

Close-knit and carefree group

On Thursday, during the last training session before the final, we saw a very close-knit Bordeaux group. Together, united, the players entered the Vélodrome pitch at the same time. As one. All in a relaxed manner. “The guys are happy, and really relaxed“They are quite cool in their approach to their final,” acknowledges coach Jean-Baptiste Poux.

I didn’t feel any form of pressure from them all week. This group is young, full of energy and carefreeness. We tried to spend the week with smiles. We know that we will have to provide our best performance of the season, and consistently over 80 minutes. If we do that, we’ll see what the rugby gods decide…

And Maxime Lucu concludes: “Sport is made to move mountains.”

Clément MAZELLA, special envoy to Marseille

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