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Here are your rugby headlines on Sunday, May 3.
French club reach European final
Bordeaux have reached their second successive Investec Champions Cup final after claiming a 38-26 victory over Bath.
Marko Gazzotti, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Maxime Lucu, Ben Tameifuna and Temo Matiu scored tries for defending champions Bordeaux.
Wales international Louie Hennessey was one of Bath’s try scores with Will Muir (twice) and Tom Carr-Smith also touching down. Bordeaux will now face Irish province Leinster in the final in Bilbao later this month.
“We will be better for this loss. That won’t be the mindset now, as there is a lot of frustration,” Bath outside-half Finn Russell told Premier Sports.
“It is amazing what we have achieved in a short period of time. We are gutted to be knocked out, but we will be back again next year.”
Bath ‘robbed’ of a place in Champions Cup final
Former England star Austin Healey claims Bath were “robbed” of a place in the Champions Cup final as the match was surrounded by controversy.
Bath slipped to a 38-26 defeat to Bordeaux in France but both Healey and his former England teammate Will Carling insist Bath were robbed.
Welsh TMO Ben Whitehouse bore the brunt of Carling and many fans’ criticism, although it appeared the French broadcasters were not providing the necessary replays throughout the match.
“Watching Bath V Bordeaux – can’t believe the TMO has been so quiet on any decisions that could be in Bath’s favour !! Quite incredible!,” said Carling on X.
“Bath have been robbed in this game,” tweeted Healey, who added: “Who is the TMO is he watching the game?” Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll branded the lack of replays “farcical”.
There were a number of incidents of Bordeaux players making head contact with Bath players, with the TMO not picking up on any of them, while on another occasion the referee gave a knock-on against Henry Arundell which clearly went backwards.
There was also an incident where Mathieu Jalibert got held up in a maul.
The referee initially gave a scrum to Bath but the television replays showed Ollie Lawrence coming in from the side which prompted the referee to reverse the decision.
But on the other end of the maul a Bordeaux player had unlawfully smashed Bath prop Thomas du Toit in the ribs.
“I can guarantee we won’t see a replay of Bordeaux doing it but they find one of Ollie Lawrence,” said former England outside-half Andy Goode on Premier Sport. “It’s becoming a bit of a joke with French directors.
“I apologise to people at home but we aren’t in control of the replays and if you are a Bath fan it is going against you unfortunately.”
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Dragons ‘gutted’ after falling short in European semi-final
Dragons co-captain Angus O’Brien says his side are ‘gutted’ after coming up short against Montpellier in the semi-final of the EPCR Challenge Cup.
The Welsh club slipped to an 18-12 defeat but threw everything at the French giants away from home.
While disappointed, O’Brien has urged his side to use the disappointment as motivation to improve next season.
“It was an unbelievable effort by the boys and we are gutted not to come away with the result,” O’Brien told the BBC.
“To come out here and have an opportunity to win the game is testament to where we have come as a group this season.
“We have to use that as fuel to kick on from here, but I am gutted we didn’t get the result.”
But there will be one Welshman smiling in the form of experienced second-row Adam Beard.
The 30-year-old left the Ospreys for Montpellier last summer and played a big part in the French club getting over the line against the Dragons.
“We talked about how the Dragons are a physical team who like to make life uncomfortable at the breakdown,” he said.
“They put us under a lot of pressure and we made a lot of mistakes.
“We would have liked the game to be plain sailing but credit to the Dragons, they are on a really good run and made life hard for us. We’re just happy to get over the line in the end.”
