Bordeaux v Bath: Five takeaways as ‘usual suspects’ show up for defending champions and ‘TV chicanery’ causes annoyance
Bath has moments to treasure, such as this Will Muir finish (inset), but Bordeaux were left celebrating at the finish (INPHO/Gary Carr)
Following Bordeaux’s 38-26 win against Bath in the Investec Champions Cup clash at Stade Atlantique on Sunday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the terrific semi-final action.
Top line
This was a Champions Cup fixture hyped up to be a thriller, and it delivered. In the end, defending champions Bordeaux eventually won their way through to the May 23 decider in Bilbao versus Leinster, but it was only after an epic effort from a Bath side that came unstuck in the closing 12 minutes.
Just 109 seconds were needed for the first firework to explode, excellent running from Damian Penaud getting rewarded by Marko Gazzotti’s finish. Bath didn’t flinch and struck back in the seventh minute when Ben Spencer’s precise crosskick was gathered by an unmarked Will Muir.
It was only a matter of time before Louis Bielle-Biarrey would inevitably feature, but his 15th-minute finish had nothing on the drama of the spectacular 27th-minute dive for the line by Muir after he was set up by Henry Arundell.
That left Bath trailing by just 14-12, but they went into the break 12 points down after a converted Maxime Lucu try and a penalty. This meant the English side had to strike first in the second period and they did, Louie Hennessey getting over 11 minutes in.
What followed was an engrossing period of to and fro that ended with the pendulum tipping Bordeaux’s way. They initially thought they had a 67th-minute try from Gaetan Barlot, but that was scrubbed out for separation in the grounding.
Before the play restarted, Charlie Ewels was yellow carded and the decision to tap the penalty ended with man-monster sub Ben Tameifuna getting over on his second carry. A 77th-minute try from Temo Matiu added scoreboard gloss before Tom Carr-Smith’s final-minute consolation.
Costly Bath errors
The stats will tell you that Bordeaux gave up more turnovers than Bath (17-13), but this was a contest where mistakes made cost the English side more. One moment summed up this frustration, a missed lineout when only five points separated the teams during an engrossing part of the second half when all bets were off.
The throw from sub Kepu Tuipulotu looked on the money, but for whatever reason, Ewels failed to nail the catch and a massive chance eight metres from the try line was lost. That slip will haunt them as they had worked so hard to make up for defensive errors that had left them trailing 24-12 at the interval.
What it showed is that despite winning a treble last season of PREM Rugby title, Challenge Cup and PREM Rugby Cup, they are still short in the smarts needed to win big in the Champions Cup. Whereas this was Bath’s first semi-final in this competition in 20 years, defending champions Bordeaux knew what worked at this level and it ultimately told.
For example, Bath pinned a heck of a lot of their carrying duties on Alfie Barbeary but as rumbustious as he was, blasting into the collisions, there was only a 26-metre gain from his 16 carries as multiple tacklers were waiting for him.
That was a lot of expended energy for a limited reward, especially as he didn’t get over the try line when he tried to. There will be questions, too, about Finn Russell’s effort. That soft second half knock-on was an example of how he wasn’t quite on it, and his defending was also suspect.
Bath, though, can fly home with heads held high. For instance, the two-try Muir was devastating – why hasn’t he been in the England Test conversation, not just their A squad? Hennessey was also an unheralded class act, not only for the clinical second-half finish he provided but also for his determination in the opening half to have a cut and generate momentum.
Thomas du Toit also demonstrated his world-class credentials and will be a major loss when he heads home to South Africa at the end of the season. When it comes to the list of best value for money PREM imports, he has to feature near the top.
Doing what it says on the tin
You can only admire champion teams doing champion things, and that was the case watching Bordeaux in this semi-final. They didn’t run away with it as early as they would have liked, but they produced more than enough to be deserving winners.
Their usual suspects showed up, and some not in the places you would most expect them. The evidence includes Bielle-Biarrey effecting a sweet cover tackle on the breaking Hennessey, and what about Lucu’s penalty-winning poach on 20 minutes. Those were selfless contributions outside the normal remit for this duo.
When it came to doing what it said on the tin, the likes of tackle king Adam Coleman had plenty of followers, and they weren’t shy in riding their luck either. See how Cam Woki’s attempted intercept of a Barbeary ball near the try line in the first half fell backwards, resulting in play on rather than a penalty for a deliberate knock-on.
There was also the impact of Matthieu Jalibert. It must have been no fun a few months ago at Murrayfield seeing a Russell-inspired Scotland do a number on their Grand Slam hopes, but he was full of running and invention in this semi-final and definitely settled the score from last March in his head-to-head battle.
Big Ben’s try-scoring run
It’s getting ridiculous the strike rate of Tameifuna, a player who hadn’t been previously noted for his potency with the try line in sight.
A bench role is very much suiting his energy, but to have scored in three consecutive knockout Champions Cup matches is quite the feat. Leicester and Toulouse both felt his wrath in the carry, and Bath also felt this pain at a critical time in the semi-final.
He was the player who initially charged at the try line with the penalty tapped on the five-metre line 12 minutes from time. While he didn’t make it, there was no loitering on the ground on his part, and after the play had moved in-field and gone through some phases, he was there to apply the finishing touch.
The 34-year-old is quite the personality and should be pushed out in the media limelight as much as possible to ensure that Bordeaux’s story isn’t just a French thing. It must get highlighted in the English-speaking world as much as possible. Rugby needs its characters, and Tameifuna is definitely one.
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TV chicanery needs to end
You love it when elite matches pass off without controversy. It means the only chat in the aftermath is about the power and the skill of the action. However, this was another high-profile match in France that left something to be desired when it came to the officiating.
It wasn’t that referee Nika Amashukeli was making a pile of gaffes; it was that the pictures being provided to TMO Ben Whitehouse didn’t look like they were telling the full story. The French broadcasters in charge of providing the footage for review were to blame, and it meant that some moments of potential foul play didn’t get the forensic look it should have.
You’d be understanding if it was a one-off, but concerns over the replay footage not being freely available is something that has cropped up regularly regarding matches in France and the chicanery needs to end. Then we can all get back to just taking about power and skill, the things that matter most when it comes to cheering on the sport.
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