Africa-Press – South-Africa. Union Bordeaux-Begles produced a commanding performance to end Toulouse’s two-year unbeaten run in the Champions Cup with a ruthless 35-18 victory at the Matmut Atlantique to reach the final for the first time on Sunday.
Bordeaux, who will face the Northampton Saints in the final at the Millennium Stadium, scored tries through Pete Samu, Louis Bielle-Biarrey (2), Pierre Bochaton and Ben Tameifuna, with the boot of Matthieu Jalibert and Maxime Lucu adding valuable points.
Six-time champions Toulouse scored with tries from Dimitri Delibes and Pierre-Louis Barassi, as well as points from the tee courtesy of Juan Cruz Mallia.
Toulouse were unbeaten since losing in the 2023 semifinals to Leinster but with Antoine Dupont, Blair Kinghorn, Thomas Ramos and Peato Mauvaka all injured, they suffered their first defeat against UBB in a knockout match.
“They had a 10-minute spell of domination and we did not crack. We’re so happy to qualify in front of our fans as we’ve been through very tough moments,” said Jalibert, referring to Toulouse’s 59-3 win against UBB in the Top 14 final last season.
Samu finished off a well-executed try after Union Bordeaux-Begles started an attack from their own 40 metres, making the most of a solid spell of possession. Jalibert then converted and added a penalty, giving Bordeaux a perfect start to the game.
Toulouse, however, quickly found their rhythm and responded with two Mallia penalties either side of a clinical finish from Delibes, taking the lead as they capitalised on Bordeaux’s momentary lapse in defence.
Despite Toulouse’s surge, Bordeaux regained the advantage when Bielle-Biarrey dived over in the corner to restore the advantage.
Lucu slotted in a 58m penalty, setting up an exciting contest as both teams remained locked in a closely contested battle.
Bielle-Biarrey was at it again, starting and finishing a swift counterattack with a sharp one-two with Samu just after the restart as UBB extended their lead to 14 points.
The momentum shifted, however, when Marko Gazzotti was shown a yellow card for being in an offside position 10 metres from his line and Toulouse took advantage on the resulting penalty from a scrum, with Barassi touching down to reduce the deficit.
Bordeaux also lost Damian Penaud through a knee injury and the France winger was in tears after the final whistle.
The stadium erupted in anger as Rodrigue Neti was not penalised for a potentially dangerous tackle but it turned to joy when Bochaton went over to reward some heavy work by the pack.
Prop Tameifuna added another in the final minutes to effectively seal the win for Bordeaux, who were also the last team to beat Toulouse in the French Top 14 in March.
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