Bath had hoped that a return to Bordeaux might rekindle fond memories of their Champions Cup triumph in the city in 1998. Sadly for their supporters it was not to be as the hosts moved a big step closer to retaining the trophy they secured at Northampton’s expense in Cardiff last year.
Bordeaux Bègles will face Leinster in the final in Bilbao in three weeks’ time, propelled there by the familiar trio of their brilliant half-backs Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert and star wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey who scored one of his side’s five tries. While Will Muir scored a brace in response and the contest was never less than gripping, England’s domestic champions were ultimately second best against formidable opposition.
It might have been a slightly different story had three apparent head contact collisions on Alfie Barbeary been highlighted by the French television director. Johann van Graan, Bath’s director of rugby, was quick to stress his respect for both Bordeaux and the match officials but could not entirely hide his frustration.
“I thought the officials did a fantastic job but there were three, we believe, headshots on Alfie in the 19th, 23rd and 42nd minutes,” said Van Graan. “All that we as coaches, players, lovers of the game, ask is that there’s consistency right through every single game. I thought [the referee] Nika Amashukeli did a fantastic job, and I thought Ben Whitehouse, the TMO, did the best that he could with the angles available to him. However, for such an amazing contest, we need to make sure they’ve got the footage they need.”
In the cold light of day there was no question about which side finished the stronger. In Lucu the hosts also have a man for all situations, the shaven-headed scrum-half finishing with 18 points, including a try of his own, on a day of sunshine, showers and, ultimately, overflowing Gallic pride.
The Dragons went down fighting as their dream of reaching the Challenge Cup final ended with an 18-12 defeat by Montpellier. The Top 14 title challengers Montpellier will face Ulster in the competition’s showpiece in Bilbao on 22 May, but they were left clinging on in the closing stages of their semi-final at Septeo Stadium.
Aneurin Owen claimed his second try in the 73rd minute to leave the Dragons, who are positioned third from bottom in the United Rugby Championship, a converted try away from springing a dramatic upset. But their fightback stopped short of delivering the decisive score despite a late series of attacks.
Thomas Vincent landed a penalty to draw first blood and then Auguste Cadot was held up over the line by a brilliant tackle from Rio Dyer after Montpellier had broken from deep. But there was no stopping the hosts in the 25th minute when slick handling forced a gap for Tyler DuGuid to maraud over, rewarding a spell of sustained pressure.
The Dragons, conquerors of Stade Français in the round of 16, hit back with an opportunistic try by Owen after Tom Banks made a mess of dealing with a kick into the dead-ball zone. Vincent rifled over three points having missed an earlier shot at goal as Montpellier opened up a 13-5 interval lead and they began the second half with a sustained assault on the visitors.
The Dragons showed mettle to defend a lineout drive close to their own line and they advanced downfield, threatening in the left corner and benefiting from Nika Abuladze being banished to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on. But Montpellier went over in their next attack with Alexis Bernadet, who had been a threat all afternoon, sniping over from close range.
Even at 18-5 up the French heavyweights could not pull clear as Owen stormed over for his second try as the Dragons struck from a lineout.The Welsh region staged one last attack but it was well defended as the upset victory slipped from their fingertips. PA Media
In almost every area Bath were valiant and competitive without ever totally being masters of their own destiny. Barbeary had hoped this might be his day of days but there were errors mixed in with his eye-catching carries. And against a strong Bordeaux side who are tough to break down through the middle, Bath had to play catch-up on the scoreboard from the start.
The kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes because of the large number of spectators still outside the ground. There had been some pre-game rain around, too, not ideally what Bordeaux’s backline would have ordered. Bath, though, had their eyes on the scrum in the absence of the experienced Jefferson Poirot, with a view to draining some crucial energy from the home pack.
They had their moments there but, in the final analysis, not enough of them. Bordeaux also started quicker, registering a try inside two minutes by the No 8 Marko Gazzotti. While Bath responded swiftly, an inch perfect cross-field kick by Ben Spencer setting up Muir to score wide on the left, the noise cranked up again when Bielle-Biarrey, lurking out on the left, darted in for his 29th try in 27 games this season with nonchalant ease.
Luckily Bath had their own lethal weapon out wide. Muir still had a lot to do following an electric midfield surge from Henry Arundell but finished magnificently, crashing through Lucu to score one-handed in the corner. It was as good as it got for Bath for the rest of the first half.
One little knock-on was all Bordeaux needed to start wresting back the initiative, first by cranking up the pressure with a scrum penalty and then by trusting their dagger-sharp half-backs. Lucu initially juggled an inside ball from a speeding Jalibert but kept the move going and reappeared to apply the coup de grace under the posts, despite Tom Dunn’s best efforts.
Behind 24-12 at the interval it was going to require something out of the ordinary to close the gap. Bath clearly recognised that reality, dragging Bordeaux through multiple close-range phases before, finally, the ball came right and the highly promising Louie Hennessey stretched over to score.
Yannick Bru, the home coach, described it afterwards as “like a boxing fight for 70 minutes … every time a team dropped their guard, points were taken”. The question was whether Bath’s bench, with four forwards introduced en masse with 25 minutes left, could maintain the same intensity. Bordeaux had chances to put the game out of sight only for a couple of last-gasp fumbles to keep the visitors alive. But Bath were struggling to keep their own composure: first a promising lineout deep in opposition territory went astray before Ollie Lawrence collapsed a maul when Bath looked set to win possession.
Then came an agonising wait as the television match official pored over footage of what had initially appeared to be a match-clinching score for the reserve Bordeaux hooker Gaëtan Barlot. Eventually it was disallowed but, with Charlie Ewels in the sin-bin for collapsing a maul, Bordeaux soon scored their fourth try anyway through the famously big Ben Tameifuna with Temo Matiu adding a late fifth. Tom Carr-Smith’s last-gasp try made no difference; the last English win in this tournament was back in 2020 and the long wait continues.
