Biarritz Olympique wants to once again emerge victorious from an away trip. The Biarrots have not raised their arms away from Aguilera since September 2 and the victory in Béziers. After having suffered in Brive and Angoulemethe Rouge et Blanc are determined to bring back points for Les Landes against Stade Montois during this 10th day of Pro D2. Kick-off is at 9 p.m. Patrick Milhet's men are in difficulty in this championship with already two defeats at home and a sad 13th place. However, one of the BOPB coaches, Sébastien Buada, is wary of this team and he hopes that his players will show a different face than that displayed in Angoulême two weeks ago.
The last two outings of Biarritz Olympique, in Brive and Angoulême, were difficult. What can we do to change the situation?
Sébastien Buada: In Brive, this will be complicated for many people. There were incidents during the match, injuries which weighed us down. The defeat that left its mark was Angoulême, with our start which killed us. The victory in Béziers (September 5 during the 2nd day, editor's note) is starting to come back. The whole group is aware of this and wants to do better. We hope that we can take action on these words.
You have this status of co-leader to assume. These are additional vectors of motivation for your opponents…
Of course. But, I think Mont-de-Marsan must worry about themselves, because they lack a little consistency in their performances. They are capable of doing very beautiful things and suddenly unscrewing. Anyway, even without talking about our ranking, whatever team they receive, they will be keen to be consistent for 80 minutes. Obviously, it's going to be a fight. We prepare for this match like the others, but knowing that we should not expect anything from the opponent.
Last week, in Aix-en-Provence, they conceded four attempts from carried balls. Do you think this will be a key to the match?
We suspect that they will have worked in this sector. Afterwards, this Mont-de-Marsan team doesn't look at all the same when Willie du Plessis is there. On our last trips, there were players like Carbonneau in Brive or Botica in Angoulême who we were unable to muzzle. So this Thursday, we must be very careful with our coverage on the kicking game in particular. We know the boy's qualities.
Biarritz Olympique is in the leading group of this championship. Do you have the impression that a victory in the Landes could be another turning point in the BOPB season?
Yes, and that would give us confidence before hosting Provence Rugby. Each away victory is so hard to achieve that if we win this Thursday, it would be another turning point. But each day has enough trouble. In any case, we know that on the outside, in fact, it's been a long time since we performed. We therefore prepared this week with great rigor, even if it was a very short week after the victory on Friday against Nevers. In our heads, we have the impression that the boys are ready to go traveling.
During the trip to Angoulême, you announced that you wanted to offer a lot of games with the aim that we know. This time, are you going to scale back?
You just have to concentrate on the desire to play. Perhaps actually when we went to Soyaux, we insisted too much on this. When we talk about gaming, we talk a little less about combat. Maybe this is what happened in Angoulême. We try to learn from our mistakes, as do our staff. You will have to successfully start the match, be present from the start. In Soyaux, we suffered all the contact, it lasted a long time before we got our heads back together. Duels, if you do them half-heartedly, you don't win, you go backwards… In the end, you can't play well.
Clément Martinez injured for many weeks
The Biarritz hooker, author of a remarkable start to the season with three goals, injured his adductors. He could be absent from several weeks to two and a half months in the event of surgery. Biarritz Olympique will rotate with Yoann Beheregaray, Brendan Lebrun and Loteru Tolaï in this hooker position.
