Bordeaux down holders Toulouse to set up Northampton final

Investec Champions Cup semi-final

Bordeaux-Begles: (18) 35

Cons: Jalibert (2) Pens: Jalibert (2), Lucu (2), Bielle-Biarrey (2), Bochaton (3), Tameifuna

Touloues: (11) 18

In a fierce encounter between France’s top two rivals, Bordeaux-Begles defeated holders Toulouse to reach the Investec Champions Cup final.

After Saints’ incredible victory over Leinster on Saturday, Bordeaux stunned in style by overcoming their nearly-menuet of recent years in a breathless semi-final.

With two fierce tries at Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the 2025 Player of the Six Nations, was the driving force behind the win over the tournament favorites and six-time champions.

In the third minute, the hosts’ first score, which was scored by Pete Samu, gave the visitors a lightning-fast pace, but Toulouse were able to hold on with tries from Dimitri Delibes and Pierre-Louis Barassi.

However, Bordeaux, who lost to Toulouse in the previous year’s Top 14 final 59-3, came out on top with two second-half tries for Pierre Bochaton and Ben Tameifuna.

Reigning champions Toulouse battled valiantly, but they were constantly under pressure and lacked the creative abilities of Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos, and Blair Kinghorn, who were both injured.

The match’s blistering tempo was immediately established when Bordeaux fly-half Matthieu Jalibert seared through midfield and offloaded to give the supporting Samu a run-in. The play moved from wing to wing before being slowed down to give the playing Samu a break.

Both teams ensured that style would be upheld as the breathtaking pace grew, and they both had 100% win records this season when they played rugby from the gods.

Before Toulouse found their relentless offloading game to put Delibes in at the corner, Jalibert and Juan-Cruz Mallia exchanged penalties.

Toulouse led 11-10 when Mallia scored from the penalty spot, but it was short lived as Bordeaux full-back Romain Buros carved through the defense wide and acrobatically dived over the tryline several times.

The hosts extended their lead to 18-11 at half-time thanks to Maxime Lucu’s incredible penalty from his own half, which Bielle-Biarrey scored with a brilliant rounding of Paul Graou wide before rushing under the posts.

Anthony Jelonch, a replacement flanker for Toulouse, led the charge at 25-11 in the play, which resulted in Thibaud Flament bursting into the 22 and Marko Gazzotti sin-binned for stifling the attack.

The 14-man defense were unable to stop Barassi from cutting inside to score on 54 minutes after the reigning champions scored two powerful scrums following.

Buros was punished for his efforts, but the home crowd cheered even more as Bochaton headed home from close range to cut the lead to 30-18.

Replacements: Sa, Perchaud, Tameifuna, Bochaton, Gazzotti, Vergnes-Taillefer, Retiere, Carbery.

Toulouse: Mallia, Capuozzo, Barassi, Ahki, Delibes, Ntamack, Roumat, Willis, Cros, Meafou, Flament, Aldegheri, Marchand (capt), Baille

Replacements: Cramont, Neti, Merkler, Verge, Jelonch, Castro-Ferreira, Saito, Chocobares,

Gazzotti’s sin-bins