Toulouse (AFP)
They are gaining momentum: Castres and Bordeaux-Bègles, recovered from the episode of Covid-19 which spoiled their start of the season, meet on Friday (8:45 p.m.) at the opening of a 9th day of Top 14 closed on Sunday by the clash between Clermont (2nd) and Lyon (3rd).
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Urios facing his exes
At the end of a year 2020 made interminable by the pandemic, the divorce between Castres and Christophe Urios, which started with a stinging failure against Toulon which deprived the CO of dams, seems to date back to another era.
However, it was not until the spring of 2019, and if the earthy technician has already returned to the Tarn to win the wire (34-32) last season, his visits to Pierre-Fabre can never be anecdotal so much he marked the spirits with the coronation of 2018.
Urios very quickly conquered Bordeaux with a 1st place when the championship was finally stopped due to a pandemic.
But his second season with the UBB started less well, disrupted from the start by a postponement (Stade Français) because of Covid-19 within the Parisian workforce, then a second (Clermont) for cases of coronavirus among the Girondins.
Result, in October, the UBB chained 3 defeats on the road before recovering against its poorly classified neighbors, Agen and Bayonne, scoring the trifle of 114 points in two games.
The trajectory is comparable for Castres, of which around thirty players contracted the virus between mid-September and mid-October and who could not play a single match in a month, sending a weakened and unprepared group to the resumption. logically upgrade to La Rochelle (62-3).
But the CO has recovered well since, obtaining two convincing results against top names: a success against Racing (28-26) and a draw in Toulouse (16-16).
After two losses last season, Mauricio Reggiardo's players are therefore ready to finally beat their "ex".
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Toulouse in the red
Unlike Castres and Bordeaux, Toulouse, deprived of its French internationals and Cheslin Kolbe, injured, has not been doing so well since the start of the international window.
In Pau (7th), the team of Ugo Mola (4th) will again have to manage without half of its best elements to end a series of 3 unsuccessful matches which is starting to become embarrassing.
The Section, which almost beat Racing (24-22), is perhaps not the best current opponent to revive ...
Wedged between these two clubs, the current play-offs Racing (5th) and Toulon (6th) have another point of going to the occupants of the red zone, Brive (13th) and Agen (14th), to consolidate their position.
Which will want to get closer to Montpellier (10th), formation most affected by postponements - already 3!
- who also goes to a "little one", Bayonne (11th).
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New test for Clermont
Another reunion is planned in Jean-Bouin, where Gonzalo Quesada and the Stade Français (9th) will host the Stade Rochelais on Sunday for Jules Plisson, child of the Parisian club with which he was champion of France in 2015. Since his departure at the end of 2019, following the Heyneke Meyer fiasco, the opener is in full swing and contributes significantly to the great start of the Rochelais, new leaders after their success on Clermont (19-10).
As often when beaten, the ASM was not unworthy but lacked effectiveness in Marcel-Deflandre.
Facing Lyon (3rd) on Sunday for the poster of the day (9 p.m.), Franck Azéma's team will have a new passing exam to see if it can go the distance.
© 2020 AFP