Bordeaux (AFP)
Bordeaux-Bègles qualified on Saturday for the first time in its history for the semi-finals, those of the European Challenge, at the expense of the Scots of Edinburgh (23-14) and will face the English of Bristol, where their former center plays Fijian Semi Radradra.
At the Gironde level, this qualification is historic and validates the legacy left in suspense in March when everything was going without a hitch for Christophe Urios' men who set out to conquer the Brennus Shield.
A pandemic later, the UBB had to put the heat back on to get rid of the Scots first amorphous, then tough in an indecisive end to the game that could have turned to the benefit of the Highlands players.
With only one match so far in the legs - against three for the Scots - we feared that the lack of pace would thwart the plans of Gironde.
The perfect start of Christophe Urios' men, with two tries scored in the first ten minutes by Santiago Cordero (4) and Jean-Baptiste Dubié (9), raised a lot of doubts and reminded the nostalgic of the qualities of this team.
But over time, Bordeaux ran out of breath to take shelter permanently and began to make mistakes that put Edinburgh back in the game (14-6, 46).
The new blood injected delayed a closer more sensitive but by dint of retreating, the Girondins ended up being pierced on a corner try from Hoyland (17-11, 53).
The blunders also sanctioned the British plans, which stumbled on the solidary Aquitaine curtain, which had become impermeable, even after the yellow card inflicted on Ben Tameifuna (71).
In a last offensive burst, born of a balloon of recovery of Maxime Lucu, a raging shelling of Lekso Kaulashvili allowed Ben Botica to register the penalty of the release.
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