RC Vannes led 29-0 against Bordeaux Bègles on Saturday evening, a few seconds before halftime. The Bretons finally lost the match, without even collecting a defensive bonus point, at the end of a second act where they completely lost the thread (29-37).
But how could they have fallen to this point? The wind at our backs in the first half obviously does not alone explain this sudden turnaround in the situation.
The Bordelo-Béglais, totally overwhelmed for a large part of the first period, increased the momentum in the second half, helped by the early entries of Pierre Bochaton, Lachlan Swinton and Romain Latterrade.
“The face shown by UBB in the first half is just unacceptable,” confided Yannick Bru after the match. We had the impression of being at a guided training session with RC Vannes. Everything was successful for them because they were given the opportunity to succeed in everything. »
“Maybe we saw ourselves as too beautiful”
The exact opposite happened afterwards. Jean-Noël Spitzer pointed out the refereeing while his team was heavily penalized after returning from the locker room. “The referee sees the score increasing for a team that must play for the title. It will rebalance, obviously. »
But the Breton manager also addressed a recurring problem for Vannes this season: the inability to maintain the same level and the same intensity for 80 minutes.
“We fell back into our usual ways. 80 full minutes, maybe we won’t get there, or very rarely, but we have to not accumulate this waste in our weak times. »
“Maybe we saw ourselves too good, maybe at half-time we said to ourselves that it would be easy. If we thought that, unconsciously, we were wrong,” added Fabrice Metz, who said he was “disgusted” by the scenario. The Vannes players perhaps overplayed, like Salesi Rayasi, sparkling during the first half hour, but who isolated himself and lost the ball which allowed UBB to score their first try just before half-time. time.
The poorly negotiated dismissal of the second period
“We held on to that. We said to ourselves: it starts from there,” admitted Girondin Cyril Cazeaux, author of a double in the second half. The UBB fed off it while the RCV began to show feverishness. The start of the second half, very poorly negotiated by the Morbihannais, allowed Yannick Bru’s men to score a second try and continue the positive dynamic. “It’s my fault,” admitted Iñaki Ayarza. I don’t get along well with Max (Lafage). Normally it was up to me to go get him but I thought he wanted to go. It’s little lapses in concentration like that that make you lose the match. »
Three tries conceded in five minutes, straddling the two periods, then an action with two yellow cards and a penalty try which brought the UBB back on the heels of the RCV. The Vannes were overwhelmed and even missed the defensive bonus when Lafage missed a penalty well within his reach (80′). “I have the feeling that we are all ruining ourselves,” lamented Spitzer, disappointed after this improbable comeback.
Senegal
