Bordeaux mix beauty and beast to shatter brave Saints

The Champions Cup final aftermath had a surreal quality because of Damian Penaud’s celebrations astride a model zebra.

Henry Pollock was attempting to understand a strange new reality while on the touchline.

He told 5 Live Sport, “Sometimes it’s not your day, I suppose.” “Sport can be cruel,” he said.

Or at least he has been told.

The back row star has received only glory and garlands this season.

Pollock had already started 17 games winning in this breakout campaign.

He will complete it on a tour of the British and Irish Lions, beginning with the Saints bench.

On his England debut, he scored two tries in his final appearance at this venue.

He stunned Sam Prendergast with an astonishing try in the final round of this competition, which he came away with.

Last weekend, Saracens’ back row assaulted him, but he still won. However, his streak came to an end this time.

On BBC Radio 5 Live, Paul Grayson, one of the last Northampton team to win Europe’s premier competition, said, “Every time Pollock was anywhere near the ball there was an acceleration in the Bordeaux players getting to him.”

“He was the focus of everyone’s eyes,” he said.

They made a difference, and as his career progresses, he’ll have to figure out how to deal with it.

Pollock’s performance wasn’t bad. None of the Northampton players did so.

The 20-year-old made more yards than any other forward on the pitch. In the shadow of his own posts, he turned over one ball and played a crucial role in a brave rearguard.

Northampton defended their line like they had been pushed over the edge for the majority of the second half.

At the opposite end, Pollock twice ran away for scores that racked up the Principality’s rafters and threatened to upend Saints’ resistance to an all-out rebellion.

The overworked television match official intervened on both occasions to prevent them.

The results were inconsistent. And Saints didn’t even know it by the time Leinster beat them in their final game.

Their path to victory was always difficult and dangerous.

Prior to this week’s game, Bordeaux’s heavy brigade had earlier stated that his side needed to maintain a high tempo and ball movement.

However, he acknowledged that doing so sounded like another risk.

Because Bordeaux’s backline, which is led by Mathieu Jalibert and is laced with Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s pace off turnover ball and in broken field, is the most dangerous in the competition.

No opposition has yet succeeded in achieving that balance.

In the knockout stages, Bordeaux averaged 42 points per game. More than eight times as many times did they try in the pool. Seven games and seven unwavering victories follow.

Nobody even came close.

Saints, however, did come close.

After a shaky opening half, they were at 20-20. Parity was achieved for them when a quick start, a few sluggish kicks from Jalibert, some doughty defense, and a willingness to compete with Bordeaux for ambition.

The underdogs might have their day when Pollock slammed through for a score that never came close in the second half.

Bordeaux, however, had prepared.

A Bordeaux bench buzzing with power and six forwards defied Northampton’s attempt to recharge their batteries. Northampton were forced back into their own half as they unloaded their replacements.

A lack of luck and discipline also hampered Saints’ plan.

James Ramm and George Furbank lost two of their back three and some fluidity in the first five minutes due to injuries in their first five.

A yellow card for Ed Prowse’ replacement in the second half for overtaking Yoram Moefana put them on the back foot.

Northampton needed to have everything in place. In the end, too few things actually happened.

By the end of the third quarter, Penaud may have been riding a boa constrictor, which would have been more appropriate given how his team had stifled the game’s vitality and kept Saints pointless in a dominant second half.

After the final whistle, the stadium’s public address system roared to Sash’s 90s dance group Encore En Fois, promising that Bordeaux will be successful in the coming years thanks to their upwardly mobile lineup of stars.

Pollock and Dingwall conducted their post-game interviews together.

The skipper found the right words to end Saints’ miserable Premiership run, as he has done throughout the run.

He said, “I believe we will celebrate our accomplishments tonight”; Although we didn’t win the victory, there is still a lot to be proud of.

“We will remain united.”

That might be enough after David Ribbans, Lewis Ludlam, and Courtney Lawes all lost at the end of last season, respectively.

Pollock, Fin Smith, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme, Alex Coles, Tom Pearson, Emmanuel Iyogun, and George Hendy make a good, young core to build on if they continue to function as a unit.