Northampton Saints and Bordeaux-Begles kick off Champions Cup with superb away victories

Northampton Saints opened their 2023/24 Champions Cup campaign with a deserved 28-19 triumph against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium on Friday night.

The home side had only suffered one loss in their backyard in the previous two years but were outplayed in most facets of play as the English outfit recovered from falling behind early on to seal their win.

Both sides scored three tries apiece but Saints’ superior goal-kicking proved to be the difference between the teams.

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There was a late change among the home replacements with Nathan McBeth taking the place of new dad Oli Kebble, while Matt Fagerson made his 100th appearance for the club in the back-row.

England scrum-half Alex Mitchell returned to the Northampton side alongside winger George Hendy, while Fin Smith – who is eligible to play for either Scotland or England – started at fly-half for the visitors.

The hosts went ahead after five minutes. It was a moment to forget for Mitchell whose intended pass for Hendy was picked off by Sebastian Cancelliere.

The Argentina winger ran from inside his own half before dotting down for the try. Tom Jordan failed to add the extras.

Northampton quickly recovered, however and by half-time had built up a commanding advantage after running in three tries of their own and adding a Fin Smith penalty.

The first try was scored by Courtney Lawes, the England veteran taking a pass from Smith and shrugging off Sean Kennedy’s attempted tackle to score.

The visitors maintained the pressure and it was not long before they were over the line again. This time Tommy Freeman was the scorer, rounding off a period of exerted Northampton pressure to score after accepting a pass from Smith.

Warriors were then temporarily reduced to 14 men when Scott Cummings was adjudged to have not jumped straight in the line-out before landing on Alex Waller, who went off for a head injury assessment and never returned.

Northampton made the most of the man advantage, George Furbank setting up Freeman who burst around the post for his second score of the game.

Glasgow switched scrum-halves at half-time – Ben Afshar on for Kennedy – and then changed three of the pack not long after to try to regain a foothold in the contest.

It failed to change matters, however, as Smith kicked another brace of penalties to stretch Saints’ advantage and take the game away from their hosts.

Warriors finally gave their supporters something to cheer when Ollie Smith ran on to his own chip kick to score before the home side were then awarded a penalty try. But Saints held firm to record a vital win.

Bordeaux-Begles cruise past Connacht in Galway

In Friday’s other encounter, Bordeaux-Begles made an excellent start to their 2023/24 Champions Cup campaign when they sealed a 41-5 win over Connacht at The Sportsground in Galway.

The Top 14 outfit claimed a bonus-point triumph, with France Rugby World Cup star Damian Penaud leading the way as Connacht suffered their heaviest home defeat in top-flight European competition.

Penaud finished off a flowing move for his team’s second try, while full-back Romain Buros and Penaud’s fellow wing Pablo Uberti each touched down twice.

Bordeaux were also awarded a penalty try, with Maxime Lucu kicking a penalty and two conversions and Paul Abadie adding a late conversion.

Connacht were never in the hunt, despite an early try from flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton.

Their cause was not helped by the loss of Ireland back Mack Hansen after he suffered a first-half injury and they face a tough task to regroup for next Saturday’s away clash against three-time European champions Saracens.

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