The Basques experienced a black evening, the color of the second set of jerseys released for the first time this season. Without an offensive solution and with a lack of alternation, the Biarrots came up against the airtight and solid defense of CA Brive throughout the game. (31-13, score final). The Corréziens left their mark on their opponents. It’s a small setback for the ex-leader of this Pro D2 as noted by Yohan Beheregaray, captain for the first time this season this Friday, October 12. “It puts our feet back on the ground a little. We took a good blow, it reminds us how we have to get back to work. We were first, we are no longer, so we will digest this match well, analyze it and go back to training this Sunday.”
It must be said that the Biarrots had come with game intentions. But, offensively, they seemed, at times, without a solution. “Their strong point is their physical power,” noted after the meeting Steve Barry. “We suffered a bit this evening. Offensively, we had difficulty finding ourselves, this is also due to the opposition which is opposite. These are matches at the top of the table. These are very tough matches and, tonight, it was not in our favor.
Six injured in the Biarritz ranks
Despite the violence of the fight, the Biarrots never shied away, which Boris Bouhraoua underlined at the end of the game. “Once again, I am satisfied with the state of mind of the BO players who, as usual, never escape.” However, in order to bypass and disrupt the CAB defensive line, the Biarritz coach would have liked more alternations to move the Corréziens more. “We saw when we managed to slip two or three good balls higher up the pitch, they too were a little annoyed, but we didn’t know how to do it enough throughout the match. We lacked alternation clearly.”
Even if the defeat is a hard blow for the former leader who did not succeed in everything, they still showed courage. The Biarrots had to deal with a slew of players who were out injured. “It was a great exercise for the staff”quipped Boris Bouhraoua with mischief. In the first half, the Biarritz coaches had to reorganize with the exit first of Tyler Morgan, injured behind the thigh, then of Yann David, injured in the neck and left at the break. Previously, it was Zakaria Al Fakir who did not receive the green light to return to the pitch after the failure of his concussion protocol. In the second period, Levi Douglas and Yoni Tuataane came out in turn muscularly affected. Then, it was Edgar Retière and Baptiste Fariscot who gave up their place. After multiple repositionings, Yohan Beheregaray, trained hooker, finished the match in third center line for 20 minutes.
Concern for Baptiste Fariscot
“We try to train for chaos, we train for somewhat unpredictable situations,” explained Boris Bouhraoua. “Tonight, that was the case… We lost our two centers almost in quick succession. It’s complicated to deal with that less. We also lost Zakaria straight away. These are not excuses, they are just match facts.” Steeve Barry spent the entire second period moving between the wing and the center as injuries kept coming. “We all changed places a bit with fewer references. There were quite a few players who also returned to the scoresheet, this obviously had an impact on the oily side of the game.”
Thomas Vinclair
Coming into play and placed at the back after the exit of Edgar Retière and the repositioning of Enzo Selponi at the opening, Baptiste Fariscot left the field with his jersey on his face. After receiving a high ball, the winger on fire since the start of the season was caught by two Brivistes as he fell to the ground. His foot remained stuck in the Stadium turf while his knee bent on impact. Although he got off the pitch on his two legs, his case caused concern among the Biarritz staff. “The images are not beautiful”, noted Boris Bouhraoua. “Afterwards, I prefer to wait to see what the doctor will tell us. But obviously, this is not a joy for Baptiste. I really hope for him that things will go well.”
