Matthieu Jalibert, the opening half of UBB.

-

FRANCK FIFE / AFP

  • The Bordeaux-Bègles Union begins its life without Matthieu Jalibert this Saturday (3:15 p.m.) in Clermont.

  • In great form this season, the opening half has been wearing his team in recent weeks.

  • To replace him, Christophe Urios awaits a collective response and calls on his natural replacement, Ben Botica, to raise his level of play.

No one wants to say it.

Not even Christophe Urios.

Yet many think so.

This season at UBB, there is a team with Matthieu Jalibert and another without the international opening half.

Already very good last season, the number 10 of Union Bordeaux-Bègles has taken on a new dimension in club in recent months with the departure of Semi Radradra.

He has become the “top player” of his team.

The Bordeaux manager admits, his playing master "is only progressing"!

"He is really on a constant progression in all areas of the game and above all, he gives confidence to the team, so his leadership is asserted", continues Christophe Urios.

A talented player, Matthieu Jalibert seems to have taken another step forward in the management of the game since his stint this fall with the Blues.

Today he is much more than a simple striker to the point of wondering if the UBB is not "Jalibert dependent", while it will be orphaned by the opening half on Saturday (3:15 p.m.) against Clermont and for a few weeks due to the VI Nations tournament.

Jalibert walks on the water this season

In fact and in figures, it's hard to say yes.

Beyond the game offered by the Union when he is there, it has lost only three games (Bristol, Lyon and Toulouse) when he held this season.

But especially since the beginning of December, Matthieu Jalibert has been walking on water:

  • 7 matches including 6 starters

  • 75 minutes average playing time

  • 15 average points per game

  • 3 tries

Matthieu Jalibert, the opening half of UBB.

- Romain Perrocheau / AFP

During this period, the Union Bordeaux-Bègles knew only one defeat, in Toulouse, for five victories and one draw, Top 14 and Champions Cup included.

"In a super dynamic and in confidence", as underlined by his teammate Jean-Baptiste Dubié, the Bordelais could make the happiness of the XV of France and… the misfortune of his club.

So how do you fill this great void?

An above all collective response

For Christophe Urios, who hates to talk about absentees, the response as often will have to be collective: “A team is smart.

She knows where her shapes are.

We know very well that there are players who are going to be missed… But the others know that they must raise their level and take up the torch.

This is a team.

"Everyone will have to do a little more from this weekend against ASM, a direct competitor for the top 6. To fill this absence but also because the list of injured (Cordero, Ducuing, Cros or Moefana ) just gets longer.

The most recent, Mahamadou Diaby, victim of a ruptured Achilles tendon.

Matthieu Jalibert was on the same wavelength as his manager about this addiction.

For him, “it's a bit exaggerated” because “there are other very good players in the workforce”: “Today, I benefit above all from the work of my teammates and it is thanks to this that I can do what I do.

If the group stays at that level of trust, it won't make a difference whether I'm there or not.

"

Botica waited at the turn

Those of his natural replacement, Ben Botica, will be particularly scrutinized.

If the experienced New Zealander is not the first comer, "he will have to take up the torch and raise his level of play but I have total confidence in him, he is a team player", points out Christophe Urios.

"It is also an opportunity for Ben [Botica] to show that he is a great player and in relation to that, we are not at all worried," adds center Jean-Baptiste Dubié.

Ben Botica, the opening half of UBB.

- Ben STANSALL / AFP

If the manager of the UBB suggests that his team will play a little differently, for Dubié, that will not change much:

“These are players who look alike, who attack, who love the game, who have a good footing.

They are two very great players.

Us in animation, that doesn't change much.

The only difference is that when Matthieu [Jalibert] breaks through, he has this ability to go to the end.

"

Perhaps the only one, but still of great importance in rugby.

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