Seeing the poster for this meeting and the ranking of the two teams, it made me want to see a big match. For those who were hoping for an offensive match, it was a failure. For those who were hoping for a good winter match, it's won. It was necessary to fight to achieve victory. Another home victory.
The calendar for this last block of 2024 is filled with big posters for many teams. After facing Montauban and before going to Grenoble, Brive had the arrival of Béziers on its roadmap. A team from Béziers, 4th in the ranking, which is doing better with a series of 4 victories in a row. It smells like the big match at the Stadium.
Brive dictated the pace of the match with a try on their first opportunity after 5 minutes. This test on a carried ball will be one of the rare bright spots in this first period dominated by the defenses. Sharp attacks are rare and when they exist, there are too many inaccuracies behind to continue the advance. Béziers clearly shows that the team did not come as tourists and will do everything to bring home points, as every time this season. But we will have to create chances and score points. At the break, the score is minimal with this 5-0. Without doing much, the CAB is ahead in the score.
The recovery is totally to the advantage of the people of Béziers. A first try in the middle of the posts then a penalty from Marques which punishes too much Briviste indiscipline and here is Béziers who plants a 10-0 to lead 10 to 5. 3/4 of the CAB do not have the same success as last week so we leave it to the front. If the try does not come directly from the maul, it will come just after through Marcel Van der Merwe. Despite these 15 points scored, the match remains a big battle. Brive fails to take advantage of its numerical superiority to score points. Béziers will remain dangerous until the siren but Brive will manage to secure its victory to catch up with Grenoble at the top of the ranking.
David Darricarrère is satisfied to win this difficult match. He regrets the lack of offensive realism. Without that, it would have made for a very different scenario.
Lucas Da Silva emphasizes building on the team's strengths. The defensive game plan worked well in this new home victory.
We simply relied on our strengths. We saw that it worked. We have performed well in this sector but we can be more clinical. We have 2, 3 misses and that is good for the next match because we will be able to settle. It was a closer match with a Béziers team which usually produces more play. We defended well. We kept them well contained in their camp. It's important to win at home. It's important to mark our territory.
Samuel Maximin highlights the contribution of his teammates, both those on the field and those who are not.. Finding the field again did a lot of good mentally for the 3rd line.
We were confident about our strengths. We knew where to attack and how to defend them. The line-up is worked on very early in the week with Arnaud and the injured like Sasha who are doing a lot of work. Courtney is a natural leader, he brings confidence and he has a reassuring speech when Béziers passes in front. Unconsciously, it motivates us and transcends us. He didn't come on vacation and does a hell of a job during the week. There is a lot of transmission. It feels a lot of good to play again, to find the group again, to find this second family who is there in hard times.
Hugo Verdu also regrets the lack of realism in attack. But in a long season, you have to know how to win this type of match as Brive did against Béziers.
The season is very long, there are 30 matches. There won't just be matches where we dominate from start to finish, where it will be easy. We will have to go through these kinds of matches. We win but it's also frustrating because it's close, it's neck and neck. It's frustrating because we have a lot of opportunities like the two lost ammo in touch, there are breaks too. We may be making bad choices by following. We know Béziers, they try to slow down the balls on the ground, it's never easy to play against them.
Pierre-Henry Broncan notes the team's improvement compared to last season. The victory against Béziers is different from that against Montauban but the team also shows that it can win in different ways.
It was a good clash. These are matches where you have to leave few spaces and not make mistakes. It was a different game than last week in terms of production. We were strong. It's tough every weekend, it's a tough championship, like the Top 14, with a lot of density. We have a very difficult trip to Grenoble but we will fight. It's a victory at the Méla but it's in the club culture. We score with different weapons than last week. We had targeted the balloons carried and we noticed in this sector. Courtney Lawes is our best scratcher and the referee had her in his sights. He warned us during the week. It's a very hard phase to referee. You also have to adapt to refereeing. The players did not panic. We become aware of our means. The team was very united with a lot of intensity that we didn't have too much last season.
Jérôme Thion expects more from CAB and particularly at home. The consultant is already looking ahead to next week and the duel of the leaders between Grenoble and Brive.
Béziers had said that he would come and do something near Brive. The people of Béziers kept their word and put pressure on the Brive players until the end. The start of the second half gave hope to ASBH who took the lead on the scoreboard for the first time. Behind again, Béziers tried to snatch victory at the very end of the match but its own approximations did not make it possible to reverse the result. Béziers, like Toulouse in the Top 14, continues to take points in all matches this season.
In one week at the Stadium, we went from an offensive match to a defensive match. The positive point: Brive was able to win both types of matches. The negative point: Brive had difficulty putting rhythm into the game and getting the match going. The forwards did their part of the job by scoring the two tries of the match on the Brive side. Not every match can be fireworks and some are trench warfare. Like the one against Béziers. Now it's time for the trip to Grenoble, the duel between the leaders of the Pro D2.
Image : Canal+Sport
