Rugby: late start for the Barracudas

You didn't have to arrive late in St. Jean on Saturday afternoon to see the rematch of the last championship semi-final, Barracuda-Good Luck. And although the match unfolded differently, the outcome remained the same, with Good Luck leaving Saint-Barth with victory under their arm. Not yet back in the game, the Barras conceded a first try by Lebreton following a combination 5 meters from their goal, well handled by the Gosier forwards. The try was converted by Combs, the defending champions' number 9 (0-7). The Barracudas responded to this first try with a Descoustey penalty, which narrowed the gap on the scoreboard (3-7).
With the exception of the home scorer, who was already in action, the locals were still not "out of the locker room", and a few minutes later, bis repetita, it was front-row Borghesi who soloed in to score the first try of the game.A few minutes later, it was Borghesi's first-row who soloed in a penalty 5 meters from the Barracudas goal to score another try for Le Gosier (3-12).
Spurred on by their fans, the "ciels et blancs" did not give up, and after some good pressing in the opponents' 22 meters, fly-half Boisson intercepted a pass from the red-and-white 3/4 line, enabling the Barracudas to come back to 10-12 following Descoustey's conversion, which was again successful.After a quarter-hour rich in points for both sides, the Saint Barths wanted to catch up, but lost 4 players, including Gaudin and his substitute, Perriguet, who were all forced off with injuries. Disorganized, the Barracudas were at fault in their defensive duties and were punished by three successful penalties from Good Luck, all saved by Combs. By half-time, the gap had widened to 21-10 in favor of the visitors.

"Bof" in 1st, Slap in 2nd
The second half observation round came to an end after a superb team try by Swiatly, the Gosier second row, who finished off a combination on the edge of the line, on the closed side, which was rounded off by Combs' foot (10-28). It wasn't until the 54th minute (10 minutes) that the Barracudas scored again following an individual error by Good Luck. Rybczak's ill-adjusted kick-back fell into the arms of Imberdis, and the Barras wasted no time in slaloming through the defense to bring the score back to 17-28, with the support of Descoustey's two foot points. On the kick-off after this try, an uncontrolled tackle by Gosier's Ramos caused the Barracudas to pull their punches.A red card and an overturned penalty for the three-time consecutive champions, who felt that the match had definitively swung their way. To illustrate this domination, Gosier's final try came in the 65th minute, via Baptiste, who threw himself straight into the Barracudas defensive line to close the score at 36-17. The rematch of the semi-final will therefore not take place.
Next up for the Barracudas is a trip to Le Bruc on January 17. In the meantime, the Saint-Barth rugby players will have to make the most of the holiday break to get the ball rolling again, with a view to winning in Les Abymes on their second trip, as they did with a win at RC Goyave at the end of November.