There remains one step to take against Montpellier (Saturday at 9:05 p.m.) to turn a corner, two to see Brennus’ dream come true, thirty-one years after the CABBG title. “Two games in a season is nothing,” said scrum half Maxime Lucu. We’ve been working for eleven months, eleven months of hardship, it’s been three months that it’s difficult in the head.
Last year’s experience
After a second half of the season with sawtooth, forced to go through the “dam” box to reach the last four, the UBB was able to start again against Racing 92 (36-16) and picked up some color before going to challenge Montpellier at the Allianz Riviera. “We had to go through it to regain automatisms and confidence”, judge Maxime Lucu. After a week of tension within the club between the manager and his players, “the group took charge well, retains the rear Romain Buros. We saw that we were very united and that’s what paid off. The urge is there. We showed that we deserved to be in the semi-finals”.
“We failed in the half last year, we are coming back to it. We will have to give everything to a match at the Stade de France… ”
Last year, for its baptism of fire at this level of the competition, the UBB hung Stade Toulousain in Lille (24-21) but narrowly missed the march to the final at the Stade de France. This experience should serve him well, both in the run-up to the event and on match day.
Without complexes
“We must insist on the faces we saw last year after this semi-final, insists Maxime Lucu. We were all very disappointed because we had passed very close. You must have no regrets, enjoy every moment and let go. The motivation is all found. We have no more questions to ask. Six days will pass quickly. We are 80 minutes from the Stade de France…”
If Stade Toulousain was a black beast last June, this time, the Bordelais have no complex to have against Montpellier, a team they have beaten twice this season (27-23 at Chaban-Delmas, 22 -23 at GGL Stadium). But accustomed to the final stages, the MHR is nonetheless a serious customer who will have benefited from an additional week of rest. “It’s a very physical team that arrives full of confidence. On a half, we know very well that the counters are reset to zero, ”tempers Romain Buros.
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