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T. McFarland (36'), S. Lagivala (53'), A. Timo (78')
Tries
C. SADIE (24')
A. Hastoy (36'), V. Bouju (53')
Conversions
H. Reus (24')
Penalties
H. Reus (20', 28', 32', 39', 56', 70')
This one told us more about nerve than nuance. With no verified post-match breakdown to lean on, the only safe read is on the scoreboard: Union Bordeaux-Bègles banked points whenever they were offered, and La Rochelle chased tries. Six shots at goal to one is not romance, but it travels. It travelled to 25–19.
The shape we can trust is clear enough. Bordeaux built a 16–0 platform inside half an hour and walked into the sheds 19–7 up. That speaks to control and decision-making rather than domination we can prove. When the game threatened to tilt—La Rochelle’s second-half surge back to 14–19—UBB answered with three more from the tee and kept the gap at two scores until the dying minutes. It was pragmatic, and it was enough.
Within the limits of what’s verifiable, a few moments stand up. Hugo Reus was immaculate off the tee, cleaning up everything Bordeaux’s pressure and La Rochelle’s indiscipline produced: penalties at 20, 28, 32 and a sharp reply on 39 after Théo McFarland had finally broken the hosts onto the board. He struck again on 56 and 70 to snuff out any sense of a home roll. That rhythm is the spine of the result.
There was one try for Bordeaux, finished by tighthead Carlu Sadie on 24 minutes after Cameron Woki linked the play—again, we can’t pretend to know the full architecture of it, but the stat sheet credits Woki with a try assist and an offload, which matches the eye of a forward-led strike in phase play. Everything else from the visitors was boot and composure. That fits the pre-match backdrop: with UBB’s 10 depth tested early this season, Maxime Lucu has captained and managed games on heavy minutes; Reus, now back starting at fly-half, gave him the scoreboard backing he needed.
La Rochelle, for their part, found the line three times—McFarland before the break, Semi Lagivala at 53 to reheat the contest, and Andy Timo in the 78th minute when Bordeaux were down to 14 after Temo Matiu’s red card. The hosts had the more eye-catching moments; they did not have the more valuable ones. Whether by choice or circumstance, they generated almost no shots at goal and left eight points in conversions alone, with Antoine Hastoy and the 18-year-old Valentin Bouju splitting the two they did make. Against a scoreboard that keeps ticking three at a time, that’s a losing trade.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAKS
TACKLE
TACKLES MISSED
TURNOVERS WON
PENALTIES CONCEDED
RED CARDS
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
Those raw numbers back up a simple read: Bordeaux had more ball and were miserly without it—only two missed tackles recorded—and they were perfect on their own lineout. None of that lets us declare set-piece supremacy or a masterplan at the breakdown; it does back the impression of a team that played the right parts of the field and refused soft edges. You could see it in the carry returns from Nicolas Depoortere and Xan Mousques, who pushed the gain line hard enough to flip pressure, and in the way UBB kept La Rochelle defending longer passages without reward.
Was the margin fair? Close enough. The late lurch—red card on 76, try on 78—makes it look like a contest that could have gone either way. It didn’t feel like that for the previous 70 minutes. Bordeaux were in front from 20 minutes on and never ceded the scoreboard handle. If anything, the six points flatter the hosts a touch; playing against 14 on their own patch, they had two minutes to steal something and didn’t threaten enough.
Individually, Reus gets the nod for doing the unglamorous thing perfectly. Lucu’s management mattered too, even if you won’t find a highlight reel to prove it. On the other side, McFarland’s impact—scoring as a replacement before half-time—was a reminder of his ability to tilt collisions, while Bouju handled the heat with a clean strike off the tee and tidy service. There’s promise there, but Marcel-Deflandre demands more than moments.
UBB leave with something bigger than four points: an away win against a top-four rival shaped by control, not chaos. Given their fly-half churn this autumn, that’s no small data point. The worry is discipline at the end; Matiu’s card invited jeopardy that should have been avoided and may bring a suspension. La Rochelle will be fed up with the early hole and the lack of scoreboard pressure. Three tries at home usually wins you a game; not when you spend the first 35 minutes offering up kickable penalties and the next 40 chasing a deficit you can’t quite close.
We’ll learn more about the tactical nuts and bolts when fuller analysis lands. For now, the takeaway is blunt. Bordeaux knew the value of three, and kept taking it. La Rochelle knew the route to five, and had to keep forcing it. In a tight league and a tighter table, that difference counts.
