For the thirtieth time in its history, Stade Toulouse will be there for the final of the French rugby championship. So much for the traditional touch of the event. Because, for the rest, the high mass of the Top 14 must be incorporated into a certain traffic jam of sports news. Played on Friday June 28 (9:05 p.m.) instead of Saturday to avoid being swallowed up by Euro football, it also abandoned its usual Stade de France – in full preparation for the Olympic Games – in favor of the Stade-Vélodrome from Marseille. Another novelty, the final will feature a team that is hardly used to still being in the running at this stage of the competition: Union Bordeaux-Bègles.
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Born from the merger between the Stade Bordeaux Université Club and the Béglais Athletic Club in 2006, the UBB does not have its opponent’s cupboard overflowing with trophies, and is playing its first Top 14 final. Nevertheless, Bordeaux and Toulouse share more than a piece of the Garonne: the two clubs are similar in their desire to chain flights to the opposing goal.
“These two teams have played the best game this season, we can hope to see a little fireworks in the final”judges the former fly-half Lionel Beauxis, who played for both clubs. The adage “hands game, Toulouse game” has a bright future ahead of it with Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack or Thomas Ramos, whose club is leading the try rankings (108) this season. But the Girondins could make it their own, in the wake of its international back line, from Maxime Lucu to Damian Penaud via Louis Bielle-Biarrey or Matthieu Jalibert (injured in a thigh but finally starting in the final). Especially since the manager Yannick Bru is a former member of the red and black house, where he played and coached between 1996 and 2012. By taking the helm of the UBB at the start of the season, he took away from the Ville Rose a taste for large-scale attacks and risky play.
« We know that if we perform well up front, we have what we need behind to finish.”explained the former hooker after his team’s victory against Stade Français (22-20) in the semi-finals. “Yannick Bru arrived with a fierce desire to playnotes Félix Le Bourhis, center of the UBB from 2011 to 2016. This desire was already there at the club, that’s what attracted the supporters to the stadium. They want to experience emotions. »
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Facing the Parisians, the Girondin fans experienced anxiety before relief, especially when the opposing scorer Joris Segonds missed a conversion on the wire that would have sent everyone into overtime. “The strength of the Bordelais is the rapid transition game. They have more difficulty when the match is a little more locked as was the case in the semi-finals, even if they ended up winning.believes Le Bourhis.
The force of habit
Confident of their game, the Toulouse residents did not deny themselves during their qualification for the final. Faced with undisciplined Rochelais and reduced to thirteen by two red cards, Ugo Mola’s men rolled on, despite a few false notes. “I’m happy to be in the final. But I am not completely satisfied with the level we showed this evening”confided the Toulouse coach after the match, won 39-23 thanks to five tries, all scored by full-backs.
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The Red and Blacks showed their strength and their usual demands, they who have already added a European Cup to their list of achievements this season. The UBB, who had started this Champions Cup well, were unable to get past the quarter-finals, while a semi-final against… Toulouse was waiting for them.
Can we imagine the Bordeaux team closing the game in the final, to counter the movements of their opponents? “It’s not a shame to win matches with the scrum or the kicking game. But I hope the match will be a little more positive”replied Yannick Bru on Thursday.
This plan does not seem to be the safest in any case. “Compared to what one might believe, the strength of Toulouse also lies in their forwards”, believes Félix Le Bourhis. Especially since, in the Marseille heat, the Toulousains will have the advantage of freshness, they who did not play a play-off match and benefited, after the semi-final, from an additional day of recovery.
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