Injured during the last day of the regular Top 14 phase, the international flyhalf of Union Bordeaux-Bègles, Matthieu Jalibert, will be back for the Top 14 final this Friday against Toulouse (9:05 p.m.), without the assurance of being 100% physically. His teammate, Ben Tameifuna, who missed the semi-final against Stade Français with a shoulder injury, will also take his place.
Precisely twenty days separate the reception of Oyonnax during the last day of Top 14 of the final which Union Bordeaux-Bègles will play against Toulouse. This is the amount of time that was enough to get an injured Matthieu Jalibert back on his feet against the Ain players. A hamstring tear which pushed the person concerned to declare his season over on his social networks. But now, the smell of a final act with a title at the end changed the situation. “It’s a tear, we know that we can recover more quickly,” explained captain Maxime Lucu at a press conference on Thursday afternoon. “He trained away from the group and with the time saved, we can perhaps line him up. So we will see his ability to be 100%. He prepared for this by telling himself that he could be.”
With the crazy hope of participating in the first final of this young club, founded in 2006 on the ashes of CA Bègles-Bordeaux Gironde, French champion in 1991, it is surely worth it. Because behind that, there are no other deadlines, only vacations. So is this a risk? Without disrupting the group’s preparation? In any case, on the Bordeaux side, we immediately refuted the slightest bluff. And according to manager Yannick Bru, everything was clear for the group, including for pillar Ben Tameifuna: “We are not in the strategy of an elaborate plan. If the two players can play, the whole group will know that they can play. We supported them in this wish and the group integrated it perfectly given the contribution of each of them to our season.”
Tameifuna’s important place on the pitch and in the locker room
During the setup at the Vélodrome stadium, Matthieu Jalibert was at the start with physical trainer Ludovic Lousteau, lining up the lengths in the goal. For his part, Ben Tameifuna was right within the group, on the ground. About him, and observing him, there was clearly no doubt that he was going to be aligned. Finally, the initial risk seemed to be to preserve it in the semi-final against Stade Français, banking on a hypothetical qualification and the bet of a (quasi) recovery for the final. But this week, the UBB staff and the player seem on the same wavelength. His important place on the pitch and in the locker room, his aura among his teammates are all arguments to be put in the “plus” column.
“Ben brings a very important physical dimension” admits hooker Maxime Lamothe. His case settled, that of Jalibert seems more thorny. With the risk of a relapse, also that of his game, made of flashes and line attacks, he will not be able to manage himself or even show the slightest flaw against the Toulouse piranhas. But behind it, there is also the identity of the person who could replace him in the event of a problem. Matéo Garcia, starter in the semi-final, would not have provided all the guarantees to the coaches to be able to start a final. And option number two would ultimately fall on scrum half and captain Maxime Lucu, who offers this versatility.
The memory of the Toulouse bluff of 2012
His association with Abadie is a plan B not devoid of qualities, even if we have had a more serene approach for a finale, when we know the actors’ desire to master as many things as possible. Asked in the afternoon about a possible bluff from the opposing camp, Toulouse manager Ugo Mola just saw it as “bluff or no bluff, with a lineup announced the day before, in other times, it would seem that it could have walk today, I just see uncertain players who are tested until the last moment. This is the lot of all teams with senior players.
We will nevertheless think back to the Toulouse players of 2012, another generation and other men, who, an hour before the final against RC Toulon, had changed several players, to the point that the broadcaster Canal Plus did not have the right team roster that day! Donguy, who had finally withdrawn, had been replaced by Matanavou, Nyanga had taken Millo-Chlusky’s place as a substitute and Mc Alister had slipped from the centre to the opening, pushing Beauxis to the bench and leading to David starting in the centre. And a certain Jean-Baptiste Poux had disappeared from the sheet in favour of Steenkamp. His forwards coach was called Yannick Bru, both men are now on the UBB staff. But any resemblance to existing characters would be purely coincidental…
The composition of the UBB:
Buros – Penaud, Depoortere, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey – (o) Jalibert, (m) Lucu © – Diaby, Tatafu, Vergnes-Taillefer – Coleman, Cazeaux – Tameifuna, Lamothe, Poirot
Substitutes:
Maynadier, Boniface, Douglas, Bochaton, Samu, Abadie, Uberti, Taufa
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