Holders Bordeaux Beagles continued their defence of the Investec Champions Cup, as they beat Toulouse 30-15 to move into a home semi final against Bath.
A tight first half
The opening 25 minutes started out as a tight affair, with both sides looking for an advantage. Bordeaux took the lead when Maxime Lamothe rolled over a maul to score. Maxime Lucu missed the conversion to extend the score. Toulouse got their first score, when Romaine Ntamack used the space well created by some excellent work by the forwards to score from close range, and took the lead when Thomas Ramos converted to make it 5-7.
Toulouse went down to 14 men on 37 minutes, when Dorian Aldegheri used his shoulder in a tackle on Damian Penaud, but made contact with Penaud’s head. Referee Matthew Carley conversed with the TMO and decided that the tackle was dangerous with no mitigation, so he had no choice but to send Aldegheri for a 20 minute red card. That didn’t stop Toulouse extending their lead as Teddy Thomas got the ball out wide and scored to make it 5-12 at half time, as Ramos missed the conversion.
Bordeaux stronger in second half
An early penalty to Toulouse gave Thomas Ramos a chance to redeem himself for missing the conversion at the end of the first half to give Toulouse a 10 point lead. That lead was soon reduced as Matthieu Jalibert gathers a loose ball before it goes into touch and dives over the line for the try, which is converted by Maxime Lucu to cut the lead to three points.
Just as Aldegheri’s red card was running down, Toulouse were down to 13 men, as Antoine Dupont was sent to the sin bin for a trip on 56 minutes. It didn’t take Bordeaux long to take advantage, as Ben Tameifuna bundled over for the score after some good defensive work by Toulouse to stop the original maul. Lucu converted to make it 19-15.
Maxime Lucu kicked a long range penalty from just inside the Toulouse half to extend the lead to seven points on 62 minutes. Bordeaux made sure of the win, when Arthur Retiere received a long pass out to score, after the forwards kept it tight and tried to pound the ball over the line. Lucu missed the conversion again but the lead was now 12 points with only six minutes to go. Another penalty from Lucu on 77 minutes confirmed the win and a home semi-final against Bath in early May.
