Match Report: Northampton Saints 20 – 28 Union Bordeaux Bègles

Northampton Saints’ courageous and captivating pursuit of a second star to be embroidered above their Club crest fell agonisingly short as Union Bordeaux Bègles triumphed in the Investec Champions Cup final.

A meandering journey through hemispheres and landmark victories delivered the men in Black, Green and Gold to the final at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, and a shot at destiny of claiming glory in European rugby’s elite club competition.

At the break, honours were even. Alex Coles and Damian Penaud traded blows with two tries each, with Fin Smith’s ten points from the boot cancelling out Adam Coleman’s try and a pair of Matthieu Jalibert kicks. 

However, all the scoring in the second period went the way of the Top 14 opponents as they got their name on the trophy for the first time with a Maxime Lucu penalty and Cyril Cazeaux’s five pointer.

FIRST HALF

Saints wasted little time drawing cheers from the Shoe Army in the stands as they opened the scoring inside two minutes. After capitalising on a Bordeaux knock on from the kick-off, the foot remained on the throttle as Alex Mitchell tapped a close-range penalty to draw another advantage, from which Coles managed to barge his way over and ground to the left of the posts. Smith added the conversion.

Before play restarted, James Ramm hobbled from the field of play with Olle Sleightholme entering in his place, and within five minutes, George Furbank required lengthy treatment after a blow to the head, with Tom Litchfield taking his place. 

Following the lengthy stoppage, Bordeaux kicked a penalty to touch and punched holes up the middle before whipping the ball wide for Penaud to step inside and finish. Saints remained ahead, courtesy of Jalibert’s conversion clattering off the post. 

There was a let off for Saints at the quarter-of-an-hour mark as a slick Bordeaux attack ended with Louis Bielle-Biarrey crossing the line, but his pass in the build-up was ruled forward by the TMO.

There was no reprieve after 22 minutes, however, as Jalibert’s jinking run and pass inside the 22 concluded with a looping pass for Coleman to breeze over untouched.

Jalibert added the conversion before trading penalties with Smith as Saints trailed by five at the half-hour mark. 

A third Saints player was replaced before the break as Temo Mayanavanua failed a HIA after a high shot from Mahamadou Diaby, who was punished with a yellow card. After knocking on the door for more, Saints came away with three points from a second successful Smith penalty.

The sides were levelled up at 14 players each for the final minutes of the first half when Tommy Freeman was carded for taking a player out in the air, and Bordeaux immediately capitalised as Jalibert successfully foraged for his own grubber and fed Penaud to roll over into the right corner.

There was one last scoring action of the half, and it went the way of Northampton. Mitchell found a half-gap on the drift, Fraser Dingwall fed Sleightholme who committed a defender before offloading for Coles to land his second try of the game. From the touchline, Smith converted to bring the scores level at the break. 

SECOND HALF 

Two minutes after the restart, Henry Pollock raced in to score following a neat lineout exchange, only for the TMO to intervene and chalk off the score after Ben Tameifuna was pulled back by Coles off the ball.

That was compounded moments later when Prowse saw yellow for a head-on-head collision with Yoram Moefana and Lucu took over kicking duties with a 40-metre penalty from a central position to nudge his side back in front. 

This was followed by two close calls as Bordeaux hooker Maxime Lamothe twice seemed destined to score from rolling mauls, only to knock on with the first and then be turned over after some resolute rearguard defence from Tom Lockett.

Approaching the hour mark, and before Prowse returned to the field, Bordeaux did land their fourth try as Cazeaux muscled his way over after a strong period of pressure with penalty advantage.

The final third played out with no further points added, as Bordeaux knocked on the door for a killer blow and were met by ferocious and belligerent defence, while Saints’ fleeting forays into the attacking 22 proved unfortunately fruitless as they were denied glory at the final hurdle.

LINE-UPS:

SAINTS:  15 Furbank, 14 Ramm, 13 Dingwall ©, 12 Hutchinson, 11 Ramm, 10 Smith, 9 Mitchell; 1 Iyogun, 2 Langdon, 3 Davison, 4 Mayanavanua, 5 Lockett, 6 Coles, 7 Kemeny, 8 Pollock.
Replacements: 16 Wright, 17 Haffar, 18 Millar Mills, 19 Prowse, 20 Scott-Young, 21 James, 22 Litchfield, 23 Sleightholme.

BORDEAUX: 15 Buros, 14 Penaud, 13 Depoortere, 12 Moefana, 11 Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Jalibert, 9 Lucu; 1 Poirot, 2 Lamothe, 3 Falatea, 4 Coleman, 5 Cazeaux 6 Diaby, 7 Petti Pagadizabal, 8 Samu.
Replacements: 16 Sa, 17 Boniface, 18 Tameifuna, 19 Bochaton, 20 Taillefer, 21 Gazzotti, 22 Retiere, 23 van Rensburg.