Bordeaux thrash Tigers, Leinster survives Edinburgh scare
WRAP: Reigning European champions Bordeaux-Begles scored five tries in 18 first-half minutes as they swatted aside visiting Leicester 64-14 in the Champions Cup on Sunday to set up a showdown against French champions Toulouse in the last eight, whilst Leinster battled past Edinburgh to walk away with a 49-31 victory at the Aviva Stadium.
In a deceptively even first 20 minutes, the hosts nosed ahead with a Maxime Lucu penalty, but after Cameron Woki breached the Leicester defence by reaching a long arm out to touch down from a ruck, the dam broke.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey drew a crowd in the 25th minute before flipping a pass to Salesi Rayasi, who trotted over untouched.
After Bielle-Biarrey had an acrobatic 31st-minute effort in the corner ruled out, Leicester kicked their drop out back to him, and the Six Nations player of the tournament beat five defenders and drew two more before sending the unsupervised Lucu loping home.
Two minutes after that, Bielle-Biarrey, starting deep in his own half, accelerated.
He crisply sidestepped five defenders, and only one even laid a despairing finger on the flying winger on his sprint to the line.
“I was just happy to score,” he said.
Another France star, Matthieu Jalibert, jinked through the Leicester defence after 38 minutes to send lock Maxime Lamothe lumbering over.
Izaia Perese replied for Leicester early in the second half, but Ben Tameifuna immediately responded for the hosts.
That try, like the first four, was converted by Lucu, who then headed to the bench.
After Billy Searle again hit back for Leicester, Bordeaux replied with an eight-minute broadside of two tries by Rayasi, either side of one by Arthur Retiere, all converted by Hugo Reus.
The European champions will host runaway Top 14 leaders Toulouse in the quarterfinals next Sunday.
“Everyone wants to see a match against Toulouse,” said Lucu. “We’ll have to play a perfect match.”
On Saturday, France centre Kalvin Gourgues scored two scintillating tries as Toulouse hammered Bristol 59-26.
“It doesn’t matter who we face, we’ll prepare the same way,” said Gourgues about the prospect of an all-French tie against Bordeaux and a repeat of last season’s semifinal.
In Sunday’s late game, eight-time finalists Leinster pulled away in the closing stages to beat Edinburgh 49-31.
Leinster scored seven tries as they dominated Edinburgh in Dublin, but set up four of the visitors’ five touchdowns with interceptions or handling errors.
After Darcy Graham scooped up a loose ball and sped away to score after 51 minutes, the Scottish side led by two points.
But three tries in eight minutes, by Josh van der Flier, Tom Clarkson and Rieko Ioane wrapped up victory for the hosts, who will host Sale Sharks next Sunday.
Glasgow Warriors edged the Bulls 25-21 and will welcome Toulon next week after the French three-time winners held on while down two players to edge the Stormers 28-27.
England winger Henry Arundell also scored twice as 1998 champions Bath came from behind to see off English Prem rivals Saracens 31-22.
English champions Bath will face Henry Pollock’s Northampton in the next round after last season’s runners-up beat Castres 49-41 on Friday.
Sale Sharks’ experienced George Ford won the battle of the England flyhalves, kicking 16 points against Marcus Smith’s Harlequins in a 26-17 victory in west London.
Sale will next play Leinster or Edinburgh, who face off in Dublin later on Sunday.
Bordeaux Begles 64-14 Leicester Tigers
Scorers
For Bordeaux Begles:
Tries: Woki, Rayasi 3, Lucu, Bielle-Biarrey, Lamothe, Tameifuna, Retiere
Cons: Lucu 5, Reus 3
Pen: Lucu
For Leicester Tigers
Tries: Perese, Searle
Cons: Searle 2
Teams
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Salesi Rayasi, 14 Pablo Uberti, 13 Damian Penaud, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (c), 8 Marko Gazzotti, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Boris Palu, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Gaetan Barlot, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Pierre Bochaton, 20 Temo Matiu, 21 Arthur Retiere, 22 Hugo Reus, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Izaia Perese, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Joshua Manz, 6 Joaquin Moro, 5 Harry Wells, 4 Hanro Liebenberg (c), 3 Will Hurd, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Archie van der Flier
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Ale Loman, 19 Cameron Henderson, 20 Harry Palmer, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Will Wand
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Peter Martin (Ireland), Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
Leinster 49-31 Edinburgh
Scorers
For Leinster:
Tries: O’Brien 3, Keenan, van der Flier, Clarkson, Ioane
Cons: Byrne 7
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Shiel, Thompson 2, Currie, Graham
Cons: Thompson 3
Teams
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 Ryan Baird, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Alex Usanov, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Robbie Henshaw
Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Malelili Satala, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Charlie Shiel, 8 Ben Muncaster, 7 Dylan Richardson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Glen Young, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Mosese Tuipulotu, 23 Jack Brown
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales (England), Joe James (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
Leinster 49-31 Edinburgh
Scorers
For Leinster:
Tries: O’Brien 3, Keenan, van der Flier, Clarkson, Ioane
Cons: Byrne 7
For Edinburgh:
Tries: Shiel, Thompson 2, Currie, Graham
Cons: Thompson 3
Teams
Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 Ryan Baird, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Alex Usanov, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Brian Deeny, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Robbie Henshaw
Edinburgh: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Matt Currie, 12 James Lang, 11 Malelili Satala, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Charlie Shiel, 8 Ben Muncaster, 7 Dylan Richardson, 6 Liam McConnell, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Glen Young, 20 Freddy Douglas, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Mosese Tuipulotu, 23 Jack Brown
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales (England), Joe James (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
