Top 14: Stade Français overthrows UBB with a brilliant interception at the end of the match

2024-01-28 03:23:23

This afternoon under the Bordeaux sun, the tests rained down on the pitch of the Chaban-Delmas stadium for the first match of this 13th day of Top 14. Firstly with the Bordelais who, as since the start of the season , showed that they knew how to use the spaces given to them and the speed of their players.

Lucu, Jalibert, Penaud and Bielle-Barrey are with the French XV for the Six Nations Tournament. The opportunity for the substitutes to show themselves, like the young winger Maël Moustin, who almost scored his first try in the Top 14 in the 18th minute. Caught by the Parisian defense, he managed to pass the ball to his teammates to allow Tevita Tatafu to score the first try of the match.

Of the stakes and the tension

The Japanese will be followed a few minutes later by Romain Buros, who, after a 70-meter sprint with his counterpart at the back Léo Barré, went to flatten in the Parisian goal (25th). A few seconds earlier, on the other side of the field, tempers were heating up between Bordeaux and Parisians, visibly animated by the stakes of the match (Stade Français was third in the standings, three points behind UBB before the kick-off). A hand to the face by Tatafu on an opponent pushed referee Thomas Charabas to penalize the Bordelais half an hour into the game.

At the end of the action, the Georgian Sergo Abramishvili went to revive his team under the poles (33rd). Then, a few minutes before the break, the Parisians came back to within one point of the UBB thanks to Jérémy Ward’s sixth try, well offset by a Macalou who could have been at Marcoussis this weekend. Previously, Brad Weber had intercepted a ball at Bordeaux’s foot to pass to his winger Stéphane Ahmed (36th). 21-20 at halftime after 40 minutes cut in two. Stade Français was trailing by 15 points after half an hour of play!

And Ahmed ices Chaban-Delmas

Returning from the locker room, Laurent Labit’s men returned to the pitch with the firm intention of bringing down Bordeaux at home for the first time this season. In the 54th minute, the Parisians got back in front on the scoreboard thanks to the third penalty from the impeccable Joris Segonds. But the try following Latterrade gave the Bordeaux spectators a breather. For 20 minutes, no points were scored, putting a damper on the frantic pace that the match had known so far.

In an unbearable end to the match, Yannick Bru’s men thought they had secured the essentials by intercepting a Parisian throw-in in the 75th minute. But the big blow came from the former Bordelais Stéphane Ahmed who intercepted a long pass between two Bordelais to flatten the victory attempt, transformation in the end (26-30).

“We knew that they were missing a lot of important players, the objective was to leave them at home and put them under constant pressure, which we managed to do most of the time and it paid off,” said declared Parisian fullback Kylan Hamdaoui. Thanks to its good performance, Stade Français moves ahead of UBB in the standings and finds itself second in the Top 14 behind Racing which will host Toulouse this Sunday evening at the end of this 13th day.