Never worried and sure of their strength, the Biarrots put in a very big performance on the second day of the championship. A week after a narrow victory against Valence-Romans (23-21), Boris Bourahoua’s men won at Béziers (19-23), semi-finalist of last season. Enough to perfectly launch the beginning of a new era on the Basque coast.
Biarritz is back. After a hectic summer on the Basque coast, it is finally time for rugby for the protégés of the new presidents Shaun Hegarty, Marc Baget and their ilk. A week after a complicated victory, against Valence-Romans, their team and their staff, built in difficulty, have already achieved an immense feat, by winning in Béziers (19-23), this Thursday, September 5.
To build its victory, this young team relies on old recipes. The veterans seasoned in the Pro D2 jousts, like Fa’asalele or Acebes, have made the message well.
Biarritz relies on its defense
Facing them is a Béziers team, particularly impressive during the last exercise and which has hardly changed its squad, nor its playing intentions. This is quickly confirmed, from the first minutes with the same intentions displayed to set the pace and find the solution through movement. But Samuel Marques’ teammates come up against an aggressive Biarritz defense. Worse still, the Basques open the scoring with a try, all in power, following a carried ball, and concluded by Cornell du Preez (10th, 0-5). A handful of minutes later, and on a similar action, Otunuku Pauta allows his team to get back into the score (16th, 5-8).
The residents of the Raoul-Barrière stadium hold the ball and rely on the physical qualities of Pauta and Tupuola, in the center of the field, to try to mark the opponent. But the latter does not give up anything. If his exits from the camp are imprecise and do not yet allow him to go and play in the Hérault half of the field, his defense is intractable. On one of his rare incursions, the BO doubles the bet, with a try from Beheregaray, on a new ball carried (35th, 5-15). Without producing much play, but all in control, Biarritz takes off. While the siren sounds, Béziers offers itself a try, scored by Gonzalez, to stay in touch (40th, 12-18).
Fariscot makes the gap after returning from the locker room
But the second half started like the first. Out of touches, Béziers found few launch pads, in attack. And it was on a missed touch, in the Basque camp, that the third try of the reds and whites arrived. A recovery started by Fa’asalele who gained twenty meters before being well supported by his teammates. Several playing times later, a pass at the foot of Dolhagaray found Kibirige who put inside for Fariscot (52nd, 12-23), Biarritz had just done the hardest part.
An improbable hope for Béziers at the end of the game
Harmless and disturbed, the Héraultais fail to put their game in place, despite the many changes made early in the match. No player manages to make a difference and the Biarritz defense proves intractable. At the end of the match, the improbable hope of a comeback blows in the stands of the stadium, after Boulassel’s try just before the siren (79th, 19-23). On a final action, ten meters from the in-goal, the Languedociens can reverse everything, but once again, it is on a lost touch that the match ends. Béziers loses to a stronger team, because tonight, Biarritz was back.
