Bordeaux knock out defending champs Toulouse in epic semifinal
MATCH REPORT: Union Bordeaux-Bègles booked their first Champions Cup Final, beating the defending champions Stade Toulousain 35-18 in the semifinal on Sunday.
Bordeaux-Bègles were absolutely impressive as they outscored Toulouse five tries to two at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.
*To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!!!
The victory means that Union Bordeaux-Bègles will face Northampton Saints in the Grand Finale in Cardiff on May 24.
An electric start was exactly the order of the day for the hosts. In what was their first Champions Cup semifinal since 2021, UBB made it clear that they belonged on the highest stage from the get-go.
Turning over possession just outside their own 22, UBB struck Stade Toulousain in typical counter-attacking Bordeaux fashion. Pete Samu weaved round the final Stade Toulousain defenders to breeze home inside three minutes.
With the early UBB onslaught under control, Stade Toulousain kicked their way back into contention. They buffered their score even further on the quarter of an hour mark when a flurry of rucks metres from the in-goal line eventually came good as Dimitri Delibes found space on the right to go over.
A couple of Juan-Cruz Mallia converted penalties made sure that the Toulouse fans didn’t miss Thomas Ramos’ steady boots too much, but UBB made him rue one missed kick as Louis Bielle-Biarrey came good, as he always seems to do in this competition. All he needed was inches of space to wriggle down the left, with his mid-air touchdown seeing the Bordeaux claim the lead back.
A superbly converted Maxime Lucu penalty from inside his own half extended the UBB advantage to 18-11 as Stade Toulousain had work to do heading in for half-time.
If UBB were worried about surviving an angry Stade Toulousain pack straight after the break, they needn’t have been. In similar fashion to the first forty, the Bordelais burst straight out the traps thanks to star winger Bielle-Biarrey.
The youngster burst free inside his own half to cover 50 metres before offloading to Samu. The Australian then looped the ball back to him behind the back, where the striding winger collected it in space to charge home next to the posts. And all that just one minute after the restart.
Head Coach Yannick Bru’s men didn’t rest on their laurels either, backing up their early score with sustained pressure.
But it was pressure the reigning champions grew used to, and one they managed to turn sooner rather than later. Pierre-Louis Barassi went through to put an end to wave after wave of Toulouse carries, and to bring them to within one score of parity.
UBB had to weather another mini storm when record-breaking try-scorer Damian Penaud went off, but you wouldn’t have noticed they’d lost one of their star players when Pierre Bochaton bullied his way over just after the hour mark to give Bordeaux a healthy 30-18 lead for the final 20 minutes.
And with the wind in their sails, Bru’s troops regained a stranglehold of the swathes of play. Even when Stade Toulousain offered moves forward, missed passes were signalling it was UBB’s time.
They properly put the semi to bed just two minutes from time when Ben Tameifuna barged his way over into touch.
While UBB will get a taste of their first final in the competition, Stade Toulousain taste a knockout defeat to a French side in 80 minutes for the first time in 15 outings.
The scorers:
For Union Bordeaux-Bègles
Tries: Samu, Bielle-Biarrey 2, Bochaton, Tameifuna
Cons: Jalibert 2
Pens: Jalibert, Lucu
For Stade Toulousain
Tries: Dilebes, Barassi
Con: Mallia
Pens: Mallia 2
Yellow card: Marko Gazzotti (Bordeaux-Begles, 51 – high tackle)
Teams
Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (captain), 8 Pete Samu, 7 Guido Petti, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 5 Cyril Cazeaux, 4 Adam Coleman, 3 Sipili Falatea, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Connor Sa, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Pierre Bochaton, 20 Marko Gazzotti, 21 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 22 Arthur Retiere, 23 Joey Carbery
Toulouse: 15 Juan-Cruz Mallia, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Dimitri Delibes, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Paul Graou, 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Jack Willis, 6 François Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Julien Marchand (captain), 1 Cyril Baille
Replacements: 16 Guillaume Cramont, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Joel Merkler, 19 Clement Verge, 20 Anthony Jelonch, 21 Mathis Castro-Ferreira, 22 Naoto Saito, 23 Santiago Chocobares
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
TMO: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Source: @ChampionsCup
