Pro D2 – Boris Bouhraoua (Biarritz): “What we did in terms of discipline is unacceptable”

After a complicated first period, what did you refocus your players on at the break?
The first half is not at all what we had planned. Already, I congratulate Agen on his first period. I told Séb (Calvet). She’s perfect. The Agenais are calm, with good territory, good conquest and that poses problems for us. It is certain that we helped them with our unacceptable discipline in relation to what we want to do. I think we are starting to understand my relationship with the discipline. It is a determining element of performance and it is, above all, a controllable element. Today, we have not mastered this element. The big black spot is there. On the other hand, to come back to your question, during half-time of the match in Montauban, we had sent a little. There we remained calm. At the end of the day, we are at 3-9. It’s not good, but I didn’t feel that it was a half where we had to send the watts. The players remained calm and I told myself that we had to remain calm, too. I told myself that if we managed to do what was planned, it would work. That’s kind of what happened.

In the second half, did you believe in the offensive bonus?
Yes, but at the end of the day, the offensive bonus is not a regret. There was a very good team up front. There is one penalty too many at the end which means that we can go into touch, but it is returned (he sighs). Today, discipline has completely taken us out of the first half, from that famous 3 tries to 0. What we did in terms of discipline is unacceptable.

Concretely, what did you say to your players to encourage them at half-time?
Already, I told the guys that if we respected our process, we were going to win the match. I wanted to restore a little confidence, all the same, because I felt the team was a little defeated. Piula also spoke. We tell ourselves that we will win the match if we put more energy into it. I took them back on that. We had to put more energy into our defensive climbs and our “hunts”. We had a good kicking game, but as we didn’t chase, it was Agen who gained territory in the first half. But I repeat, it was a rather calm half-time.

On the spot, can you explain the face displayed in the first period? Was it linked to the slap received in Brive?
I like to analyze match by match. Today, it took us a while to get into the match and, above all, Agen made it difficult for us. Their kicking game was quite efficient. For me, it is not linked to the match we played in Brive. It’s just that the plan didn’t go the way we wanted. We went off track and took a while to come back.

Would you say that the BO relied on its executives to get back into the match?
Of course. We have extraordinary leaders and I am very happy with them. I started the speech after the match by congratulating the guys on the victory. Once again, Olympic Biarritz showed extraordinary character. The first half is not good at all and we have to win the match, behind. What they did, in terms of their state of mind, is once again incredible. […] I have a lot of affection for the 45 players in this group, because they never go out of their way. There is enormous character. When we had to bounce back after Montauban, during the Grenoble reception, we did it. There too.