Inevitably happy after the victory of his team in Bayonne (19-21), the chief coach of the Olympic Biarritz, Boris Bouhraoua, notably appreciated the behavior of his players in defense.
Are you a manager satisfied tonight?
On rugby, completely. There are a lot of positive things tonight. We wanted to put ourselves in the posture of the win. We wanted, through rugby, to contain Bayonne and create an opportunity at a time in the match where we could take it. This is what happened at the end. I told the players that if we had taken the last try at the end and we had lost, it would not have reduced our performance.
How do you analyze the performance of your team?
I found that the players were very efficient in combativeness. They opposed, strong, in offensive or defensive contacts. They put a lot of speed in the game. The goal, in attack, was to be clean on ball carriers and rucks. A top 14 team puts their hands faster and Bayonne posed problems for us, but in the end, we were rather performing on this. Tonight, I felt a collective team and it was important to me to see the power of the team that went from Dax to Bayonne. I really felt all the players aligned in the same direction in all places on the ground, and that was positive.
You have also often traveled the ball to the wings …
Completely. The offensive game project is focused on reading. It’s a chess game, you have to go play in spaces to gain ground, with your foot or hand. This alternation automatically arrives if the players read well. Whenever we read the game well, we created advance and Mr. Nuchy stretched out, which allowed us to have penalties to play in the 22 meters of Bayonne.
What about your defensive service?
On the defense, the desire to win meters on each ruck was interesting. Even if we lost the line more, because Bayonne remains a strong team, the guys wanted to regain meters with the defensive climbs. This is the big positive point. I also found that on the technical gesture we were interesting. There were strong players, but we placed low, we made them fall dryly. We didn’t want to take them up.
Is your group ready for the championship?
Beyond the first match against Béziers, we made a recruitment to be performing throughout the season. There will be soft strokes, but the idea is that they are not long. For that, you need an extensive workforce, with players who have a mentality. The recruits come for that and those who have been there since last year work in our work mentality. All our players are on the same wavelength in terms of combativeness and project.
What do you think of your conquest?
I congratulate the staff and the players who did a lot of work and the fray. This is much more regular than last year on the first two games. The touch? We have returned to simplicity, we have higher and experienced players, including an alumni from the store, who bring us. The work pays. We are in the continuity of last year.
What does this victory in a derby represent, for you?
It is very important. I had asked the team to pass a course. You have to be humility, I know very well that it is not the Bayonne team that will start the championship, but the players can be proud of them. Winning to Jean Dauger with the BO jersey on his shoulders is a positive memory.
