San Francisco Frontiers - Bielle-Biarrey lifts Bordeaux past Toulouse and into Champions Cup final

"We've won, it's magnificent, it's been a magnificent day, it's great to experience moments like this, the show was top quality and I'm happy for rugby," said head coach Yannick Bru, after Bordeaux-Begles reached their first final in the competition.

In Cardiff on May 24, they will face English side Northampton who upset favourites Leinster on Saturday.

Bielle-Biarrey, who scored eight tries during the Six Nations to help France to the championship, struck either side of half-time at the Stade Matmut.

No.8 Pete Samu scored the opening try for Bordeaux with replacement lock Pierre Bochaton and prop Ben Tameifuna going over in the second half.

Dimitri Delibes and Pierre-Louis Barassi crossed for Toulouse but they were always struggling to stay with the pace.

"They're hyper-realistic," Toulouse fly half Romain Ntamack told France 2. "Every time they came into our half they scored tries or penalties. That's the difference today. They're far from being better than us today, but they were much more pragmatic than us."

Bru agreed his team had maximised their opportunities.

"We knew that everything would count," Bru said. "When you play Toulouse in the knockout rounds, everything counts: the forwards, the pack's performance, the breakaways."

It was a highly-anticipated clash between the two leading sides in France's Top 14.

Toulouse, the six-time champions, who beat Leinster in last year's final, went into the game underpowered with international quartet Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos, Peato Mauvaka and Blair Kinghorn all out injured.

They were soon behind when Bordeaux fly-half Matthieu Jalibert launched a counter-attack from a turnover in the fifth minute. He flew 50 metres upfield before offloading for Samu to gallop through for the score.

Jalibert converted and added a penalty before Argentinian full-back Juan Cruz Mallia put Toulouse on the board with a penalty.

After 15 minutes, wing Delibes went over in the right corner to bring Toulouse within two points. Mallia missed the conversion but popped over a penalty to put Toulouse ahead for the first, and only time, in the match.

- 'Didn't want to lose' -

It only lasted one minute before Bielle-Biarrey benefitted from some superb work by Romain Buros and Damian Penaud to skate through in the left-hand corner.

France's record try-scorer Penaud later hobbled off with an injured left ankle.

Scrum-half Maxime Lucu landed an outrageous 58-metre penalty to put Bordeaux 18-10 ahead at half-time and within moments of the restart, Bielle-Biarrey struck a second time to give the home side a firm grip on the game.

Barassi gave Toulouse a foothold with a try in the 55th minute but late efforts from close range from forwards Bochaton and Tameifuna underlined Bordeaux's dominance and sealed their place in the final.

"I'm proud of the lads," said Bru. "They didn't want to lose."

While Bordeaux-Begles head to the final, Toulouse turn to defending their domestic title. With four regular-season Top 14 matches left, they lead the standings by 10 points and are heading for a first-round playoff bye. Bordeaux-Begles are also in position for a bye as they narrowly hold second place.

"We're going to have to turn things around because the league isn't over yet," said Ntmack.

"It's always frustrating to go out in the Champions Cup semi-finals," he added. "But it's part of our sport. We can't win every year. We still have a goal to reach and defend. We're going to concentrate on that now."

X.Roberts--SFF