Ospreys battle to victory
The result puts the Liberty Stadium side in command of Pool Two with 10 points from three matches. Dan Biggar scored all 19 points for his side after being floored by a Jean-Baptiste Dubié swinging arm, with the Bordeaux man seeing red. The French side never gave up, and pushed the Ospreys all the way despite having 13-men at one point.
The Ospreys got off to a perfect start with Biggar booting his side in-front after three minutes. But the visitors equalised almost immediately with a penalty of their own from Pierre Bernard. The two hitmen continued their kicking duel with a penalty apiece before Ospreys talisman Alun Wyn Jones allowed the French side an advantage.
The Wales lock entered a maul from the side and was shown yellow by JP Doyle. And Bordeaux did not waste time in making their man advantage count. Centre Le Bourhis spotted the overlap caused by Jones' absence and ran an outside arc to score. Bernard converted to put the French side 13-6 up. But Biggar was on-hand to rein in the lead once more with his third penalty from three attempts.
The game turned with the Ospreys trailing by a point after the break. Biggar collected a high ball and chipped ahead before Dubié planted a late, swinging arm on the playmaker's chin. Referee JP Doyle went to the TMO, and the officials agreed the challenge warranted a red card.
And Biggar picked himself up off the turf to spot a gap in the Bordeaux defence and dot down at the corner before nailing the touchline conversion. But the Ospreys made hard work of the second-half and edged home 19-16.
The scorers:
For Ospreys:
Try: Biggar
Con: Biggar
Pens: Biggar 4
For Bordeaux-Begles:
Try: Le Bourhis
Con: Bernard
Pens: Bernard 2, Lonca
Yellow cards: Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Jean-Baptiste Poux (Bordeaux-Begles)
Red card: Jean-Baptiste Dubié (Bordeaux-Begles)
Teams:
Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 Hanno Dirksen, 13 Jonathan Spratt, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Eli Walker, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Brendon Leonard, 8 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 4 Lloyd Ashley, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Scott Baldwin, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Sam Parry, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Aaron Jarvis, 19 Rory Thornton, 20 Dan Baker, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 Sam Davies, 23 Ben John.
Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 14 Jean-Baptiste Dubié, 13 Felix Le Bourhis, 12 Charles Brousse, 11 Nans Ducuing, 10 Pierre Bernard, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Marco Tauleigne, 7 Hugh Chalmers, 6 Matthew Clarkin, 5 Adam Jaulhac, 4 Berend Botha, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Clement Maynadier, 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Chambord, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Patrick Toetu, 19 Cyril Cazeaux, 20 Louis Madaule, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Romain Lonca, 23 Paulin Riva.
Referee: JP Doyle (England)
Assistant referees: Greg Garner (England), Paul Burton (England)
TMO: Sean Davey (England)
Source: @ChampionsCup
