If Biarritz Olympique can still maintain itself mathematically. But that seems like a distant dream for the players and the staff. The club is now looking to next season and intends to finish the current year on a good note in order to please its supporters.
The equation is quite simple for Biarritz. With 11 points behind Perpignan three days from the end, a defeat would mean a return to Pro D2 next year. A victory is therefore mandatory to hope to remain in the elite. Obligatory victory but not sufficient since it will be necessary in parallel a misstep of the Perpignanais at Aimé-Giral against Brive, in a match also capital for the race to maintain.
The dynamic is not there and relegation seems inevitable after a difficult year (only 5 wins in 23 games), especially when we know that the Basques will have to face Castres, Clermont and finally Toulouse, all three seeking a place for the dams. The Biarrots will not have been able to live up to the demands of the Top 14, not regular enough to be able to hope to remain in the elite, regrets Roger Ripol, scrum coach: “It is difficult to be good over 80 minutes and to finish our matches, and that’s what makes the difference with the big teams. In a very tough championship, when we make two or three mistakes or have a hole in the air, we lose.”
But there’s no question of demobilising, everyone must be ready to end the season in style. Roger Ripol explained: “We try to keep everyone connected, with the energy for a Top 14 game. We want the two home games to be a celebration for the supporters who have been there all year.”
“We will have to rebuild”
All the players are focused on the last matches in order to start on a good basis in Pro D2. As testified by center three-quarter Vincent Martin, “we have two games left at home, we will have to finish on a good note to prepare for next season” and Elliot Dixon, on whom the Red and Whites can count next year since he announced “to be there next season”, yesterday noon.
The off-season will undoubtedly be turbulent and the leaders will have to be hollow in order to rebuild. Several executives will leave at the end of the season, in particular the two captains. Steffon Armitage returns to Nice where he discovered rugby, and Lucas Peyreblansques will go to Paris to join the Stade Français just like Mathieu Hirigoyen. Roger Ripol is lucid about the situation and analyzes “important players are leaving, important players will arrive, we will have to rebuild”.
From riffs to ass
It now remains to consider the future in Pro D2 even if it is not easy given the current context in Biarritz. A strong internal crisis affects the amateur section of Biarritz Olympique. David Couzinet and the “Galactics” (former glories of the soundtrack, in particular Dimitri Yachvili and Imanol Harinordoquy) have been revoked from the association’s board of directors and it is Nicolas Brusque who has taken over as head of the association.
However, the Galactics retaliate and challenge the legality of the meeting at which the decision was made. Meeting from which they were absent. The Bayonne court should decide next Monday.
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