Berbizier dives into hot water
Pierre Berbizier, once a French scrumhalf, then a French coach and now the coach of is possibly in hot water.
On Saturday last Racing played La Rochelle at home in Paris and Christophe Berdos, France’s top referee, was appointed to the match.
In May this year Berdos was on touch when Racing played Clermont Auvergne in the semifinal of the Top 14. Berbizier was furious with Berdos and made known his objections in public, which got the coach into hot water. He was angry that lock Santiago Dellapè was sin-binned when the score was 17-15 in Racing’s favour and that Berdos had signalled a penalty goal as over when Berbizier was convinced that it was not over. Clermont won 21-17.
This time Berbizier got his objections in before the match. At a press conference he said: “I have no pleasure in crossing paths with this person. I’ve had no contact with him and don’t want any.”
In May Berbizier got off; it may not happen when he appears before the discipline committee on 29 September.
Berbizier is not the only one in trouble. La Rochelle’s fullback, Benjamin Dambielle, will appear at the same meeting after being sent off for a dangerous tackle on Racing’s scrumhalf, Jérôme Fillol.
