Bordeaux-Begles end wait for Champions Cup glory with vintage win over Northampton Saints

Bordeaux-Begles ended their long wait for a first major trophy with a 28-20 win over Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup final in Cardiff.

The French outfit ran in four tries in their eight-point win, with the returning Damian Penaud grabbing two alongside scores from lock forwards Cyril Cazeaux and Adam Coleman.

Bordeaux’s win now makes it five-straight Champions Cup triumphs for Top 14 sides, following in the footsteps of La Rochelle and Toulouse.

Click here for the scorers

The Saints came marching in at a rocking Principality, opening the scoring after just two minutes. A knock-on direct from the opening kick-off gifted Northampton precious territory in Bordeaux’s half, and after a spell of concentrated pressure, Alex Coles barged his way over for the score.

The elation of that opening try was quickly extinguished with James Ramm and George Furbank both taken off with serious injuries, and to rub salt into the wound, Penaud hit back with a score after some quick hands through the backline.

One so nearly became two for the Frenchmen, too, as Louis Bielle-Biarrey crossed after a scrumptious strike-play, but it was ruled out for a forward pass in the build-up.

Bordeaux weren’t held out for long, though, as Coleman crossed the whitewash. A loose ball found itself in fly-half Matthieu Jalibert, and the Frenchman danced around the chasing Northampton defence to create space for the lock and he duly obliged with the score.

After Fin Smith and Jalibert exchanged three-pointers, a yellow card to Mahamadou Diaby gifted the Saints a proper lifeline back into the contest.

Northampton quickly turned that into points too, with Smith adding another penalty to his haul for good measure. Three nearly became eight too, after Henry Pollock latched onto Smith’s clever kick to score, but it was stricken off for offside.

This came back to haunt Northampton too, as Tommy Freeman was sent to the bin himself after a tackle in the air on Penaud.

The returning French winger, who was a major injury doubt until the team sheet was released yesterday, was at the heart of the action again as he added his second try. A steal from Jalibert gifted Bordeaux possession deep in Northampton’s half, and he connected with the flyer to send him dancing over in the corner once more.

But, with the clock in the red, Northampton struck back. A perfectly executed backs move found the ball in Ollie Sleightholme’s hands, and the England international offloaded to the on-charging Coles, who waltzed over for his second of the half. Smith’s conversion was on the money too, meaning the game was level going into the sheds.

Northampton nearly got off to the perfect start in the second-half as Pollock again dotted down, but like his first effort, it was stricken off for an infringement. Small margins.

Things quickly got worse for the Saints after that, as replacement Ed Prowse became the third player to be sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle. Directly after, Maxime Lucu knocked over his first kick of the day to give his side a slender three-point lead.

Momentum was beginning to shift towards the French side now, but they missed a golden chance to get some breathing room in the contest as Maxime Lamothe spilt the ball in the act of scoring.

They were instantly back, however, just as Lamothe was looking for all the world like scoring, the Saints popped up with a crucial turnover.

Golden chance gone.

A turnover quickly turned into a linebreak, which turned into a scrum, which turned into a free-kick, which turned into Northampton earning precious territory in Bordeaux’s half.

In keeping with the trends of the match, Bordeaux quickly earned the ball back and motored towards the Saints’ line. After strong surges from what seemed like the entire pack, Cazeaux was the fortunate one to add his name to the scoreboard after barrelling through the defence.

Crucially, this pushed their lead out beyond the one-score margin heading into the final 20 minutes.

Bordeaux’s power game was beginning to take its toll in the waning stages of the game, with the likes of Pete Samu leading the charge, but again, Northampton managed to halt them just as they looked to be rolling over the line.

Bouyed by their defensive efforts, Northampton looked to finally go back on the attack, and a penalty inside Bordeaux’s half gave them the perfect chance.

Repeated truck-ups from the likes of Coles, Elliot Millar Mills and Angus Scott-Young got them to within five metres of the line, but Bordeaux themselves came up with a miraculous turnover, and the pressure was instantly relieved.

Despite the territory, and the clock, Bordeaux just couldn’t put the game to bed. Another maul within Northampton’s five resulted in a knock-on, giving the reigning Premiership champions another lifeline back into the game.

But, they needed to score fast if they stood any chance of winning the game, considering the eight-point margin.

It proved too much of a mountain to climb in the end, as Bordeaux held on to claim their maiden major trophy.

The teams

Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall (c), 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

Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (c), 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, 21 Marko Gazzotti, 22 Arthur Retiere, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg

Referee: Nike Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

READ MORE: Northampton Saints v Bordeaux-Begles, LIVE: Follow our blog of the Champions Cup Final