Champions Cup Final - Teams and Prediction

SATURDAY PREVIEW: Cardiff will be in the spotlight as Northampton Saints aim to end France’s dominance in the Champions Cup.

The English club will be up against the favourites, Union Bordeaux-Bègles, in Saturday’s Final at the Millennium Stadium.

Recent history suggests the French sides are almost untouchable, with Toulouse winning in 2020/2021 and last season and two wins by La Rochelle, who were beaten finalists before that, sandwiched in between.

Leinster are the only team to have come close to challenging the French hegemony in Europe, but they won’t be there this year as the Saints shocked them in the Dublin semifinal.

Four of Phil Dowson’s Northampton matchday squad – rising star flank Henry Pollock, flyhalf Fin Smith, scrumhalf Alex Mitchell and wing Tommy Freeman – have been named in the British and Irish Lions squad for this year’s tour of Australia.

They will be without South African star Juarno Augustus, who was ruled out with an issue picked up in training last week.

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The good news is that club captain George Furbank is set to play for the first time since April after being named at fullback, while fellow England international Ollie Sleightholme is on the bench.

“We are going to go flying into it with loads of energy, loads of heart, we’re going to work incredibly hard and when it goes well, we’re going to celebrate and when it goes wrong, we’re going to pick each other up,” Northampton’s Director of Rugby Dowson told the BBC this week.

“We’re going to keep doing that for 80 minutes and then look up at the scoreboard and see where we’re at,” the former Saints loose forward added.

Bordeaux-Begles have reached their maiden Champions Cup Final having been founded following a merger between Bordeaux and suburban town Begles in 2006.

They tasted defeat in their only other previous major final, losing 3-59 to Toulouse in the Top 14 last season despite the involvement of supersonic wings Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Damian Penaud as well as influential flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert.

“There are things we can control better compared to what we did last year,” head coach Yannick Bru told reporters this week.

“We’re happy to be at another match that is decisive for the club, with all our capabilities,” the former France and Toulouse hooker added.

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Wideman Penaud will feature despite being sidelined since the semifinal win with an ankle problem.

With Bielle-Biarrey on the other wing, the pair have been try-scoring machines for club and country this season.

“I think both of them want to give back to the club what the club has given them,” Bru said.

“They are good players, who are liked in the squad and think of the group before themselves.”

Penaud and French rugby’s new poster boy Bielle-Biarrey have fired Bordeaux-Begles to the final and behind leaders Toulouse in the Top 14 standings with Bru’s side playing an attractive, expansive brand of rugby.

Meanwhile, Springbok centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg will play off the bench with Nicolas Depoortere forming a midfield partnership with Yoram Moefana this time around.

Saints are planning to banish the bad memories from their most recent Champions Cup final appearance, having led Leinster by 16 points before losing 22-33 in 2011.

“They want to play fast, they want to look for space, they want to be brave and that makes for entertainment,” said Dowson, who started the final defeat 14 years ago.

“It’s what you expect to see from a French side sitting second in the table.”

Northampton Saints v Union Bordeaux-Bègles
(Millennium Stadium, Cardiff – Kick-off: Saturday, May 24 – 14.45; 15.45 CEST; 13.45 GMT)

Prediction

@rugby365com: Union Bordeaux-Bègles by seven points.

Teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 James Ramm, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Josh Kemeny, 6 Alex Coles, 5 Tom Lockett, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Elliot Millar-Mills, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom James, 22 Tom Litchfield, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.

Union Bordeaux-Bègles: 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 Ugo Boniface, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Pierre Bochaton, 20 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21 Marko Gazzotti, 22 Arthur Retiere, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

Referee: Nika Amashukeli
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace, Andrea Piardi
TMO: Marius Jonker

Additional sources: AFP & ICCSA