Bressac met Rennes in the Nасьональ league on Friday evening, 2 October, and the match ended 31-31. We had tipped the hosts to win, with 70 per cent confidence, but the evening went another way entirely. By then, the momentum had shifted twice, and Rennes refused to go away when they should have.
Both sides traded blows from the opening whistle, with tries coming at regular intervals. Bressac started brighter, but Rennes responded with pace down the wings. And here's the thing — the game never settled into a rhythm either team could control for long.
The hosts had come off a mixed run: a win against Viennе but heavy losses to Albion and Mont-de-Marsan. Rennes, meanwhile, had dropped points in five of their last six, including that 29-35 defeat to Bourgoin-Jallieu. To be fair, both sides looked legs-light by the final quarter.
Statistics tell only part of the story. The match produced 62 points between them, with each side crossing the line equally. Shots or carries — the numbers are less telling than the fact that neither keeper could claim a clean sheet.
The draw leaves Bressac sitting in the middle of the table, while Rennes move up a place. Cup football has its own rules, and this was not one of those nights. The high line was picked apart, and cheap fouls cost both teams dearly.