Pro D2 – Weighed down by a nightmarish start, Biarritz conceded, against Soyaux Angoulême, its first defeat of the season at Aguiléra (10-25). Formidably efficient, the Angoumoisins confirm their good dispositions away from home and assert themselves as real contenders for the final stages. Unlike the Biarrots who could well have let the right car slip away.
With only one victory in seven trips to Aguiléra, the results of the confrontations between the two teams did not really lean in favor of Angoulême this Friday evening. However, on the pitch in Biarritz, the Angoumoisins showed impressive efficiency to achieve another away victory (25-10). A big blow which allows the SA XV to maintain its place in the top six. Jumping seats that the Basques, authors of a strong start to the season, see moving away.
Biarritz took the water
Undefeated since the start of the season at home, Biarritz had only conceded six points in its last three receptions. It took Angoumoisins barely twenty minutes to score almost three times as many. A lesson in realism started, in the pouring rain, by a goal from Sikeli Nabou who concluded, in force, a supersonic counter-attack by his team (9th). Adrian Mitu then decides to take over from his elder brother. The young third starts by finishing the job behind an excellent ball carried by his partners (12th) before finding himself at the conclusion of a nice collective movement along the touchline (19th). Showered by this catastrophic start, the BO is struggling to really enter this game. Opposite, the SA XV begins, however, to make some errors and lets the Basques get closer to the line. A line that Yohan Beheregaray (36th) and his teammates end up crossing following an effective maul. A timid reaction which does not prevent the Biarrots from returning to the locker room twelve points behind (5-17).
A short-lived hope
However, buoyed by this budding hope, Boris Bouhraoua’s men continued their momentum upon returning from the locker room. Behind a new ball carried, Beheregaray offers himself a double and brings the BO to seven points behind the visitors (43rd). Tossed and unclear for ten full minutes, the Angoumoisins nevertheless let the storm pass before showing, once again, realism. Ben Botica first adds three points to his team’s tally (58th), before Arthur Proult uses his speed to conclude a delicious offensive move by the visitors (64th). Despite a few chances in the last quarter of an hour, neither the BO nor the SA XV managed to grab a bonus point, defensive or offensive. Final score 25-10 for the visitors who confirm their status as a formidable away team with already a fifth success away from home this season. For the BO, this first defeat in Aguiléra sounds like a setback. Ideally launched after five days, the Basques now find themselves in a soft spot and could well have let the final stages slip away.
During the next day, Biarritz will try to raise its head and make up for this bad affair on the Agen pitch. Soyaux Angoulême will have to confirm its excellent operation when hosting Béziers, a serious competitor in the race for qualification.
