Biarritz Olympique had the opportunity in this 12th day to win for the 7th time in 7 home matches against an opponent, Stade Aurillacois, who does not travel very well and thus move up the rankings again. The two teams offered the public at the Aguiléra Sports Park a rather indigestible spectacle, a beautiful symbol of a Black Friday from America. But this BO still knows how to win when nothing goes wrong in his game and in particular in touch and wins without trembling but without bonus against Aurillac. The operation could or should have been better but the Basques are climbing up the rankings.
Biarritz's victory against Aurillac was expected and the bonus strongly hoped for for Boris Bouhraoua's men in Aguiléra, one of the 5 still impregnable fortresses of Pro D2 this season. With 27 points taken out of 30 possible, the Biarrots looked like a scarecrow in this meeting which pitted the 4th against the 10th, which was also clumsy on the outside. At the end of a frustrating match for everyone, thee BO wins 23-6 against Aurillac but without convincing. Only the 4 points are to be remembered in this match where clumsiness reigned. A match which had started perfectly for the Basques.
Because yes, everything started well in this match. Biarritz left the kick-off to Aurillac and Ugo Seunes to better take the opponent by the throat and it worked. The first arrival in the opposing 22m was crowned with success. After a first penalty conceded by Stade Aurillacois Cantal Auvergne, the touchline at 5m was perfectly controlled with the catch of Matthews and the try of Yohan Beheregaray as the base man of the maul (5th, 7-0). We had to keep this beginning in mind because nothing would be the same again after that.
And suddenly nothingness
Yes, the BO got their hands on the ball but was messy in everything like the Cantaliens opposite but on a larger scale due to their domination in possession and occupation. A single statistic will sum up the BO's poor match in attack, the 10 balls lost in touch throughout the match. In the rest of the first act, there is little to get our teeth into, little play developed by the three-quarters or percussion phases from the front. We had to wait until the half hour mark to see points scored. Three. From Thomas Dolhagaray on a penalty for having a 10-unit lead (29th, 10-0). Enough to give ideas to the Aurillacois, also very clumsy in touch, who on their first opportunity to take points grabbed three from the boot of Ugo Seunes (36th, 10-3). The break came at just the right time to sort things out for both sides.
Hooker changes, same results
Were the coaches' speeches going to be a game-changer for the spectacle of the meeting? No way. The changes of pitchers, from the break on the Auvergnat side, after 5 minutes for Biarritz? Neither. The same mistakes were made over and over again. The Biarrots, frustrated at dominating without scoring, finally alternated penalties taken into touch and penalties towards the posts. Especially when Aurillac, without doing anything, came back to 4 points after Ugo Seunes' penalty (62nd, 10-6). Thus, Thomas Dolhagaray gave some air to his teammates (69th, 75th, 16-6) when poor Luteru Tolai's touches from 5m did not find a taker, any more than those of Beheregaray.
But at the very end of the match, the Biarrots remembered that they could also produce play. At the last minute on a major action from their side, the BO gave a little joy to Aguiléra with the try concluded by Hebert after very good relays from Acebes, Vergnaud and Aurrekoetxea (80th, 23-6) over 60 meters. We shouldn't have asked for more from this BO, any more than these 4 very important points.
