“it feels like a humiliation”, Yannick Bru lucid after this slap in the final

For the players and staff of Union Bordeaux-Bègles, waking up must be a bit of a headache this morning. It’s difficult to get your thoughts back in place after an evening as complicated as Friday’s, and a match which very quickly turned into an ordeal, even humiliation.

Yannick Bru was stunned after this big slap. During the match, his decision to finally line up Ben Tameifuna and Matthieu Jalibert, while they clearly seemed diminished, was strongly criticized. And yet, in a press conference, the UBB manager did not regret this choice at all, which did not turn out to be profitable at all.

These were choices weighed by the entire staff. We couldn’t beat Stade Toulousain in the final by simply limiting the damage. We have to take a gamble, with the best players on the pitch. To beat Toulouse, we have to be bold and take chances.

Today, nothing worked. We could have chosen 23 other Bordeaux players, I think the result would have been the same.

(…) Matthieu wanted to play this match. But he had clearly warned us that he would not be able to sprint at 100%. I fully accept that.

“We quickly saw that we weren’t invited”

It is true that Jalibert and “Big Ben” were not the only Bordeaux players to stick their tongues out on the Vélodrome pitch. The domination of the Toulousains over their opponents was total and indisputable. Yannick Bru knows this Toulouse house well. And on Friday, it was with great humility and respect that he could only note the level of excellence that still exists at his former club. His assessment was unequivocal on the performance of his group, crushed on all sides.

We saw very quickly in the first 20 minutes that we lacked a bit of energy in everything. We lost easy balls, missed tackles, conceded yellow cards. We were a bit behind everywhere, we suffered the contacts and the steamroller started. We saw very quickly that we were not invited. And when you lose the arm wrestling against Toulouse, they break your wrist on the table (…) We lacked freshness. The lesson is that to beat Toulouse in the final, you have to go straight to the semi-finals.

(…) We must congratulate Toulouse for the way they outclassed us. We are not at the level, it feels like a humiliation.

Despite this huge disappointment, Yannick Bru also wants to remember the season as a whole, which was much more satisfying than this single final match. And he is right: UBB was one of the most exciting teams to watch play, and did not steal its place. “That was not the true face of UBB”he assures, also apologizing to the club’s supporters.

Yannick Bru retains the lessons of this match, and promises that his team “will be better next year”. Appointment is made.