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Beneath the roof of Welsh rugby’s noisiest cathedral here was a game to raise anybody’s blood pressure. There have been some extraordinary finals in this tournament but none as breathless or frenetic for such long periods. This was rugby on fast forward, a blink-and-you-miss-it thriller that finally ended with Bordeaux winning the first Champions Cup title in their history.
They just about deserved their special vintage but what a contest. Northampton, reduced to 13 players at one stage with two men in the sin-bin, were heroically brave and insanely committed. Every single Saint refused to bend the knee despite a worsening casualty list and collectively played a full part in a final that rocked and rolled from start to finish.
Alex Coles, who scored two outstanding first-half tries, and Tommy Freeman were both utterly magnificent for Saints, closely followed by any number of their gallant colleagues. Bordeaux had a plethora of stars of their own but even the gifted Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Damian Penaud could not shake off the stubborn ‘Shoe Army’ until the closing moments.
It made for exactly the type of final the connoisseurs had been hoping for, with Northampton digging as deep as they did in their extraordinary semi-final win against Leinster. They had a similar proactive plan this time but, as in their last final in Cardiff in 2011, they could not finish what they started and failed to score a single point after half-time.
Injuries were partly to blame, with James Ramm and George Furbank both forced off within the first four minutes. The latter departed on the medical cart after Romain Buros’s knee caught him nastily in the head while he was out of the game trying to regain his feet. It was deemed to be ‘only’ a rugby incident, however, and left Saints without one of their most influential figures.
Not that there was any time to pause and reflect. Coles and Penaud swapped cracking early tries and Bordeaux might have had a second not long afterwards when a brilliant backline move launched by Matthieu Jalibert was belatedly called back for a glaring forward pass by Bielle-Biarrey to Penaud. Too many such passes have escaped the censors this season so it was both a correct and timely call.
In broken field, though, UBB can be totally devastating. Jalibert seemed to be going nowhere when he was lobbed the ball around 25 metres out but the fly-half has a recurring ability to pluck a lapin from any chapeau. Five would-be Saints tacklers were left sprawled in his wake as he weaved his way right and then lobbed a delicate basketball-style pass to the giant Australian lock Adam Coleman. Mustard-sharp indeed.
Northampton had to find a foothold and duly found one thanks to a long-range penalty from Fin Smith that just sneaked over the distant crossbar. Jalibert responded in kind but his side were then reduced to 14 men when Mahamadou Diaby was sent to the sin-bin for a shoulder to the head of Temo Mayanavanua.
Another Smith penalty narrowed the gap to two points again but now Bordeaux were trying to buy time and slow the game down. Not so Northampton who thought they had scored through a charging Henry Pollock only for the try to be ruled out because the flanker was offside when Smith put in his rolling chip kick.
It was not the ideal moment, then, for Saints to lose a man of their own, Freeman tackling Penaud when the flying winger was still airborne. As has become their trademark Bordeaux were swift to capitalise, with the opportunistic Penaud again finding his way to the right corner.
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But Northampton had pledged all week to stay positive, no matter what. Despite their crumbling back three resources they still poured forwards and smart passes from Fraser Dingwall and Ollie Sleightholme put Coles over for his second. The England forward was almost sidelined beforehand by a knee injury but his contribution was extraordinary nonetheless.
With the score now back level at 20-20 the half-time message in the Saints dressing room was no secret: it was just a question of keeping playing, regardless of the odds. ‘Why Not Us?’ has been the mantra and even the lesser-known members of the squad have fully bought into it.
They also had Pollock, for whom little is currently impossible. Within two minutes of the restart, the 20-year-old was released down the blindside by Curtis Langdon for exactly the kind of cheeky score that is becoming his speciality. Again, though, it was not to be: Coles had been spotted tugging a would-be defender back off the ball and Bordeaux were awarded a penalty instead.
Thrust and counter thrust, with barely a pause for breath. Out of nowhere Saints were suddenly down to 13 after Ed Prowse saw yellow for another high challenge. Bizarrely the man of the match Maxime Lucu opted to kick the penalty goal rather than turn the screw via the forwards and when Bordeaux subsequently dropped the ball over the line with a try an apparent certainty the plot briefly thickened again. Cyril Cazeaux’s 55th minute try, though, gave Saints another mountain to climb which, ultimately, proved just too high.
And the broader experience? The Northampton own-brand Hawaiian shirts were great and the visiting French contingent were in excellent voice, too. You had to feel slightly for all the Leinster fans who had bought tickets in anticipation of their side making the final but those neutrals who did travel could scarcely complain about value for money. Big rugby days do not come much more exhilarating.
