There was no outpouring at the final whistle on the Gironde side. Because the Union knows that it came very close to terrible disillusionment on a pitch where it had come, without all its strength, but with the intention of signing its 2nd away success of the season.
“Even if the mission is accomplished, I still have trouble being happyadmits a Yannick Bru who, like his team, has gone through all the emotions. How complicated we have made our task! It's true that the face we showed in the first half was unacceptable. We have the impression that it was training aimed at Vannes. What reassures us is the ability our players have had to show that they are worthy of the confidence we have in them. We found a UBB which is making efforts, which seeks to dominate collisions, which sticks together.”
“Our behavior was unacceptable”
Winger Arthur Retière, who has been dragging his crampons for ten years in the Top 14, had never experienced this. “We don't play, we don't have any balls, we suffer, we could even have taken more tries. And I think there is a burst of pride not to take 45. Once we started to put our game in place, to pass each other and to play at their place, it was immediately been easier.“
Sébstien Salom-Gomis
At the break, manager Yannick Bru let out a rant. “It's true that I'm not used to getting angry, I'm not a loudmouth. but at one point, we had the impression that it amounted to dishonor, that we didn't respect the jersey, all the people who support us. Our behavior was unacceptable.“
But the turning point may have arrived just before when, at the end of a one-sided first act, Ben Tapuai tore the Vannes curtain to score the first points for his team (29-7, 40th).
Jalibert, ten minutes and then leaves
“Obviously it feels goodconfirms Arthur Retière, and you notice directly in the second period. You tell yourself it's possible.” 20 minutes and three tries later, the Union took the score and never let it go. Serious warning all the same for the runner-up to the leader Toulouse who, despite everything, had a good accounting operation by relegating their pursuers, La Rochelle and Toulon , at five lengths.
A victory that Matthieu Jalibert experienced on the bench, wrapped up in a parka. Highly anticipated ten days after leaving the French XV, the international fly-half spent ten minutes on the pitch before going out, victim of a major crutch in his thigh. Injury which does not seem to worry too much the Girondin staff who hope to be able to get him back on his feet for the reception in Montpellier next Saturday.
