Champions Cup: between UBB and Harlequins, it’s going to be a blast

The numbers are there. Since the start of this European campaign, the UBB has been driving the counters into panic. Its line of three-quarters – nicknamed the Galactics – in particular. No team has scored more points than Bordeaux-Bègles: 217 in the first five matches (more than 43 on average per match!). The same, obviously, for the number of tries: 32. An offensive armada, from Lucu to Buros, via Depoortère, Moefana and Bielle-Biarrey, which will however be reduced by two units, Jalibert and Penaud (there remains a small chance that the international winger, victim of a crutch, can hold his place).

Opposite, this Saturday at the Chaban-Delmas stadium, however, stands an opponent who is not to be outdone when it comes to attacking. London Harlequins have the 4th attack, 3rd in number of tries (26). And a master of playing as twirling as he is daring in the person of the opener Marcus Smith, “an ultra-offensive, creative and very dangerous profile”, notes Louis Bielle-Biarrey. So it's going to take off under the scorching Gironde sun... To relive the same scenario as a week ago, in the round of 16, against other Englishmen, those of Saracens (45-12)?

Best try scorer in the competition, tied with… Harlequins center Andre Esterhuizen (5 each), LBB succeeds in a counterattack which he is accustomed to on the field. It’s “the defense that will make us win,” says the international winger. And to develop. “We played a Saracens team which was in the “kicking game” and the pressure game while the Harlequins team is a little more like us, with very talented players. It will be a duel between two very offensive teams and the match will be totally different. We want to reveal the extent of our offensive palette, but we will have to be very serious in defense because they will have the same desire to play. We must not forget this sector, nor that of discipline. This is what wins final phase matches..."

Louis Bielle-Biarrey insists: “Under the sun, in a full stadium, we will inevitably want to attack. But we will also have to remain serious and respect the game, otherwise it will become “hurray rugby”.” The scathing warning from UBB manager Yannick Bru carried. He who calls for more consistency has worked to pique his troop. “If we are the Bordeaux-Bègles team that I have known since the start of the year, we should have a crappy match (against Harlequins, Editor's note). A blow up, a blow down, a good match against Toulouse, a catastrophic match in Lyon, a peak of emotion (against Saracens, Editor's note), so, normally, we should do something disgusting on Saturday..."