Bordeaux-Bègles produced an offensive festival on Saturday in Exeter (69-17) and took the lead in their Champions Cup group, taking advantage of the bonus point left by Toulouse in Durban against the Sharks.
With 15 points taken in three days, Yannick Bru’s men now have their destiny in hand to finish at the top of Pool 1, synonymous with a marked course at home up to and including the semi-final.
To do this, they will have to beat the Sharks, dominated at home on Saturday by Toulouse (20-8), with the offensive bonus in a week at home.
While all the spotlights in the oval world were focused on the visit of Antoine Dupont and his team to South Africa, the UBB stood alone against an English team which is nothing more than a shadow of the 2020 European champion, to achieve an eighth success in a row.
Pulverized by Toulouse’s ten tries a month ago (64-21), the Chiefs, who have won only one match this season in the Champions Cup and Premiership, this time conceded eleven against Maxime’s Girondins Lucu, elected man of the match with two tries scored and very clean handling of the game.
The French internationals Louis Bielle-Biarrey (double) and Damian Penaud (treble) took care of their stats in this match where Temo Matiu reigned in the counterattack, where the scrum held its place and where the defense was very solid and effective in scratching.
The only downsides to this trip to Cornwall: the early exit of the returning Romain Buros, victim of a twisted knee, twenty days before the start of the Six Nations Tournament, and the red card received by Toma Taufa for a dangerous tackle.
Surprised from the start by a 95-meter try from winger Paul Brown-Bampoe, UBB took two minutes to get back in front thanks to Lucu and 36 minutes to secure the offensive bonus (26-5).
Faced with dormant adversity defensively and despite waste in transmissions, the current leader of the Top 14 added seven other tries including Maxime Lamothe on a ball carried before the break, Cyril Cazeaux in the winger position after and by Matthieu Jalibert on a Penaud caviar which could have gone there on its own.
