The defeat of Stade Français in Bayonne is difficult to pass for Gonzalo Quesada. Not only did the Ile-de-France lose the meeting in the last moments to Jean-Dauger on a penalty from Camille Lopez (29-26), but the Argentine coach was also frustrated by the arbitration. More precisely by the origins of the official who refereed the game this Saturday in Basque country.
“We are not paranoid. It’s not the referee’s fault. We put him in a super tough situation because he grew up in the Basque Country and it’s hard not to be influenced, Quesada quipped at a press conference. Scrums with 5-6 fouls without showing a yellow card to finally whistle a tackler who does not come out when there is nothing and that decides the result of the match, it is difficult. We gave him this meeting and he did the best he could…”
If he questioned the decisions of Vivien Praderie, the Parisian technician also welcomed the performance of Rowing. “Afterwards, Bayonne did not steal anything from anyone, he added. I admire the work done here. Now we have to try to keep the frustration to ourselves and not complain too much about this afternoon, because we have injuries (Ivaldi, ribs) and Montpellier are coming next week”.
Stade Français had opened the scoring thanks to a try from their Basque third line Mathieu Hirigoyen. The Bayonnais reacted, to the point of racing in the lead until the 77th minute and Romain Briatte’s try (26-26). The Ile-de-France residents did not, however, complete their comeback. Morgan Parra missed the conversion. Camille Lopez, he did not tremble at the moment of registering the final penalty, two minutes after the siren sounded.
Still runners-up to Toulouse, the Stadistes have not managed to break the invincibility of Rowing, with nine home successes in as many games this season. On arrival, the Basque stadium sang. Quesada, he scoffed.
