Sun 16 Dec 2012 | 09:16
Biarritz beat Connacht in drenched conditions at the Parc des Sports Aguilera

11
Comments

Biarritz beat Connacht 17-0 on Friday night in Round 4 of their Heineken Cup return fixture, which took place in horrendous conditions. The field was drenched after heavy rains but both sides played to a decent standard considered how wet it was underfoot.

Connacht were unable to repeat the feats of a week earlier when they beat the French side at home. This time it was the hosts at Parc des Sports Aguilera that came out trumps, with Iain Balshaw and Seremaia Burotu both scoring well taken tries.

Following the defeat in Galway, club president Serge Blanco got rid of coach Jake Isaac and assistant coach Serge Milhas. Laurent Rodriguez took charge ahead of this improved performance.

The drenched pitch had to be worked on by groundstaff but the game went ahead under trying conditions, as chip kicks resulted in the ball stopping dead, and players going to ground created massive waves and huge splashes.

South African center Danie Poolman took an unfortunate knee to the head which led to a long delay and him having to eventually be stretchered from the field.

The result saw Biarritz go ahead of Connacht on the Pool 3 table, while Harlequins remain on top after two convincing wins over Italian team Zebre.

If you have any specific clip requests from the weekend, please tweet, email

11 Comments

  • jjlm
    12:58 PM 19/12/2012

    I've loved mud since mini rugby, the dirtyer i get the better i feel.... the only place i hate mud is the scrum, slipping away on the front row isnt much fun.

  • browner
    5:38 AM 18/12/2012


    I went over from 5/6m out about 20 years ago , with a tsunami in front of my nose, we won 4-0 , in the only match played in the SW of England that day..... !
    mates still recall & we still chuckle

  • kadova
    10:12 PM 17/12/2012

    The linesman took it easy, that's nice.

  • katman
    4:04 PM 17/12/2012

    What a mess. The knee Poolman took to the head didn't look like much fun either.

  • 3:45 PM 17/12/2012

    ...or thinking you're going to acquaplane when in fact you get stuck short of the tryline! My props from that game still give me shit when they see me...must have been 8yrs ago now...oh well..

  • colombes
    1:36 PM 17/12/2012

    i always believed that mud fights should be obligatory during the 3rd half

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71BXwuuAw7k

  • moddeur
    12:39 PM 17/12/2012

    I love the follow-up kick at 1:46, the player kicks it while running at full speed, and the ball goes forward .... 2 meters, slows down in all the water, stops.

  • pretzel
    12:12 PM 17/12/2012

    Played in some pretty awful conditions; Hot days and no grass on the pitch, Cold days and ice on the pitch, mud so thick that studs did nothing to grip, one of the worst wet pitches was when I was playing for school and an away team had a puddle right in the centre, I think the referee said that the players could kick the ball straight from the hand at the kickoff because they couldn't drop kick it...(can't remember exactly)..

  • stroudos
    11:58 AM 17/12/2012

    I think I've played on wetter pitches, believe it or not, but then I wasn't playing in the Henieken Cup!

    There's nothing quite like the feeling of aquaplaning across the tryline from 5m out!!

  • 2:59 AM 17/12/2012

    hahahaha I love playing in games like that! You always feel like a little child playing in the mud. But that might well be the soggiest pitch I have ever seen. I love that in this sport, we don't care if it's this muddy.

  • barryt
    11:53 PM 16/12/2012

    The hooker wiping his hands on the linesman for the lineout was brilliant! Hard luck connacht!