Top 14 Orange
Brusque slams misfiring Biarritz
Ian Moriarty
October 24, 2011
Clermont Auvergne's David Skrela looks to offload a pass, Clermont Auvergne v Agen, French Top 14, Stade Marcel Michelin, Clermont-Ferrond, France, October 14, 2011
Clermont Auvergne's David Skrela helped take his side to the top of the Top 14 table © Getty Images
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Players/Officials: Nicolas Brusque
Tournaments/Tours: Top 14 Orange
Teams: Biarritz | France

Former Biarritz and France fullback Nicolas Brusque has accused the club's players of going through the motions while waiting for the return of their World Cup stars.

Brusque's comments follow yet another disappointing performance in their 15-15 draw with Lyon at Aguilera. The Basque side remain firmly rooted to the bottom of the table with only one win in eight games, a performance that former fullback Brusque believes is down to a lack of leadership and drive.

"I felt Biarritz were very, very, very nervous. Biarritz could have lost, without any complaints at all," Brusque told Midi Olympique.

"My feeling is that the players are going through the motions, waiting for their [World Cup] team mates to return. It feels like the ship has been abandoned and that there's no one to bang their fist on the table."

The reaction was somewhat different at Perpignan, in spite of their 3-39 thumping by Clermont Auvergne at Stade Aime Giral. Coach Jacques Delmas told l'Independant he was convinced they would recover, managing a bit of humour in his exchanges with the media.

"You will say I have sun-stroke but it was our best first half since I got here," he joked. "We'll heal ourselves and look at our defensive errors. We didn't win ourselves a week of respite, but instead a week of pressure. We'll take responsibility together."

Meanwhile Toulouse captain Yannick Nyanga has warned his team mates from becoming over-confident ahead of the return of his side's international contingent from the World Cup The champions bounced back from their defeat at Castres last week to record a 56-6 win over Bordeaux, a result which keeps them in third place just behind Clermont and Castres.

Nyanga told La Depeche du Midi: "We have to be careful not to head towards having too much confidence. Every game is complicated and we are on a roller-coaster a little bit at the moment so we need to find a little bit more consistency in our game at the moment.

"We need to keep up with the pace set by Clermont and Castres because we know how important it is to be in the top two later on in the season. As well as that, there's the European Cup. And there's no question of not being ready for the opening game against Gloucester."

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