A defeat that leaves a stain on Aviron Bayonnais. On Thursday at Jean-Dauger, last season’s Top 14 semi-finalists lost their first pre-season match against neighbours Biarritz Olympique (19-21). Inevitably a huge disappointment when you know the rivalry that exists between the two Basque clubs. Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the game, Bayonne captain Arthur Iturria delivered an uncompromising assessment of his team’s result.

“With all the respect I have for Biarritz, they may well have prepared very well, but we have the ambitions of a team at the top of the Top 14 table, we were up against the tenth-placed side in Pro D2 and we were incapable of doing any better than that. So it is close to shameful tonight. We have one more warm-up match against Perpignan and we will have to do better, because right now you start to think the beginning of the season could be complicated. But we are not going to hang our heads, that is not how we do things.”