READERS’ FORUM: Welcome to our LIVE coverage of the Champions Cup semifinal between Union Bordeaux-Bègles and Stade Toulousain Matmut Atlantique Bordeaux-Bègles take on reigning champions Stade Toulousain in a semifinal that will see the ‘hottest clubs’ in the French game take centre stage Watch The Rugby Championship U20s live and for FREE on the RugbyPass app Kicking off Thursday 1.5 at 1pm BST with New Zealand U20 vs Australia U20 Geo-blocked in: All South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa Get weekly Rugby Updates direct to your inbox All the Rugby365 articles and news you love Union Bordeaux-Bègles overcame a 21-14 halftime deficit to surge past the Leicester Tigers with a dominant second-half performance earning a 42-28 victory in an electrifying Investec Champions Cup Pool 1 clash at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Dec with Harry Wells scoring a try in the fifth minute Pete Samu equalized for UBB in the sixth minute Leicester regained the lead through a try by Josh Bassett before Guido Petti’s 27th-minute try and Jalibert’s conversion Leicester edged ahead just before halftime with Louis Bielle-Biarrey scoring twice within the first six minutes Pete Samu added another try in the 45th minute with Jalibert’s conversion extending the lead to 35-21.  made it 42-21 and all but sealed the victory Leicester managed a late try through Izaia Perese Leicester hosts the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Round 2 while Bordeaux travels to Belfast for a match against Ulster Rugby.  Depoortere (72’); Conversions: Jalibert (6’ Key points of the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup: Twenty-four clubs have qualified for the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup as follows: The Investec Champions Cup and the EPCR Challenge Cup begin Dec and the four-round pool-play action ends Jan The EPCR Championships weekend is in Cardiff There are championship games on May 23 (EPCR Challenge Cup) and May 24 (Investec Champions Cup).  FloRugby and FloSports also are the US home to:  FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.  Get the most important Rugby stories delivered straight to your inbox Following a 43-31 victory for Bordeaux-Begles over Ulster here are our five takeaways from the Investec Champions Cup last-16 encounter at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday Bordeaux-Begles produced a dominant 50 minutes to take the game away from Ulster and earn their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup It was always going to be a tough ask for the visitors and so it proved as UBB showed all their qualities in the early stages The forwards were brutal in contact and the backs had too much quality for the Irish side’s rearguard They scored 21 points in as many minutes with Damian Penaud Ben Tameifuna and Adam Coleman touching down for a comfortable lead At that point you feared a hammering was on the cards but Ulster responded through Tom O’Toole and David McCann to reduce the arrears Romain Buros’ try at the end of the first half proved crucial and took the game away from the visitors Maxime Lamothe’s try then effectively secured the victory for the Frenchmen despite the province’s spirited response meant Ulster exited the Champions Cup with their heads held high The forgotten man of Irish rugby was keen to remind everyone back home that he remains a rather decent rugby player While France international Matthieu Jalibert will likely take the reins for the very biggest matches in the Top 14 and Champions Cup the fact that Carbery was trusted by the Bordeaux coaches for this huge knockout match says a lot about his form this season After joining the French outfit from Munster the playmaker has become a key part of the squad full-back or as an impact player on the bench It is evident that the 29-year-old is playing with confidence which is fantastic to see after the struggles of last season The way that UBB play seems to suit him down to the ground and there were several classy touches from the Ireland international with the highlight an outstanding pick up and break which led to Buros’ try on the stroke of half-time With Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley two exceptionally talented young fly-halves no one is suggesting that Andy Farrell should be trying to lure him back to Ireland but Carbery is certainly not done at the highest level on this evidence It was certainly interesting that the momentum swung after the playmaker went off early in the second period There is a wonderful balance to French rugby at the moment and it is showing on the field The Top 14 has always been the most physical domestic competition in the world but teams rather preferred to bring the power and very little else It therefore created a rather turgid affair with the majority of French sides combining the beauty with the brawn The way some of their teams have ripped through their opponents has been frightening at times Toulon on Saturday and Bordeaux – at times – on Sunday were exceptional in the way they used their muscle and skills to open up Saracens and Ulster respectively While the big budgets inevitably help greatly French rugby is an absolute juggernaut at the moment with the academies producing elite talent the overseas stars adding so much ability and nous and the coaches innovating to great effect making it very difficult for Europe and South Africa to stop 👉 La Rochelle v Munster: Five takeaways as Irish province pip hosts in ‘Ronan O’Gara derby’ Ulster could have easily folded in the final half-hour but the Irish province were absolutely magnificent in the latter stages of the contest It was a tremendous response from a side who have received plenty of criticism this season and only just scraped into the knockout stages Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey were already two of their more threatening players in the first half but With Ward joining them in impressing and continuing his own upward progression they caused real issues for one of the Champions Cup favourites It was not the result they would have liked but they can come away from the Stade Chaban-Delmas with immense pride It has been fascinating to watch Munster and Ulster over the past couple of days and compare it to the English sides who suffered some embarrassing results and produced – in the case of Leicester Tigers and Harlequins – shambolic performances While it never really looked like the Irish province would stage a dramatic comeback and realistically force UBB to panic too much the way they fought and took the Frenchmen on physically was a credit to themselves and the United Rugby Championship who were exceptional against the La Rochelle behemoths and Ulster have shown incredible resilience against supposedly better teams in hostile atmospheres It is something the Premiership outfits can learn from and ultimately makes you wonder whether it is competition that is adequately preparing their sides for the Champions Cup The PRO14 – as it was called – used to be a distant third behind the English and French domestic competitions in terms of its intensity and entertainment value but that has changed markedly since it has become the URC 👀 READ MORE: Glasgow Warriors v Leicester Tigers: Five takeaways as Henco Venter ’empties the tank’ while visitors’ discipline proves costly This kicks off what could be a show of force for a French club rugby Friday that is one of the tournament’s three key favorites, Union Bordeaux-Begles. Welcoming pool opponent Ulster Rugby to town, UBB enters this clash as the heavy favorites, and for good reason.  Having already defeated their Irish rivals 40-19 on the road with a rotated squad, UBB has every right to think Sunday’s fixture will be a runaway win. Ulster, however, is a vastly different proposition to the side it was back then, due in large part to the return of several key players from injury. Three of their most dynamic players, Cormac Izuchukwu, Robert Baloucoune and Iain Henderson, are out for this clash. Head coach Richie Murphy is able to call upon Irish internationals John Cooney, Jacob Stockdale, James Hume and Tom Stewart. Combining this with the development of Murphy’s son Jack at fly-half, backrows James McNabney and David McCann and tighthead prop Scott Wilson, to name a few, and you get the sense of a different team. Linked to these returning players has been a clear uptick in form, with Ulster winning its last three fixtures. While all of these developments undoubtedly will make Murphy’s squad a tougher nut to crack, UBB has indicated that it feels confident of the result by making a few key changes. Headlining the changes, Bordeaux has opted to rest Six Nations player of the tournament and arguably the best finisher in world rugby, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, for the fixture.  Other changes to the squad include Irish international Joey Carbery getting the start ahead of Mathieu Jalibert at fly-half. While the risk of hubris has bitten this squad previously, most notably in a quarterfinal loss at home to Harlequins last season, it takes more than a squint to see an Ulster win in this fixture, even if things are closer. Bordeaux by 15. How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugbyFloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S Following an absorbing Investec Champions Cup quarter-final between Bordeaux-Begles and Munster we pick out our winners and losers from the French outfit’s 47-29 victory at the Stade Chaban-Delmas clash He got the ball rolling for Bordeaux-Begles last week against Ulster, and it was more of the same from the France maestro as he gathered a beautiful Matthieu Jalibert kick through to cross on six minutes. That score took him ahead of Chris Ashton for most tries in a Champions Cup season (12) as Penaud was once again a joy to watch Semi-rested last weekend as he featured from the bench while Joey Carbery impressed in the 10 jersey, but with the former Munster fly-half missing due to injury, Jalibert was front and centre again. Boy did he impress. He feasted on Munster‘s errors and with the threats he has at his disposal Jalibert was in devastating form throughout the heartbeat of their team is the scrum-half and Bordeaux and Lucu are no exception He wasn’t quite at his best last Sunday but definitely stepped it up a notch in this quarter-final Constantly scanning and surveying what was on he was fired up to drive Bordeaux into the last four of the Champions Cup His try-saving tackle late on against Thaakir Abrahams was the gloss on his showing as he emptied the tank and was our Player of the Match from the victory The former Wallabies number eight was electric in the opening period and fully deserved his try on 26 minutes Samu is clearly a fan favourite and will no doubt be sorely missed at the Stade Chaban-Delmas next season He will of course be eager to sign off with one In for Ben Tapuai this week and he certainly took his chance with both hands The hulking centre is an incredible sight when in full flow and he tore through the visitors’ defence on several occasions today Bordeaux fans will hope it wasn’t an injury that saw him exit the field on 54 minutes and if it was they will pray that it isn’t serious He’s had a tough spell due to injuries and form and has fallen down the pecking order at international level but this was a solid performance at scrum time from Jager It’s no secret that Leinster have arguably the more favourable side of the draw and for the most part today it felt like they are so fortunate not to have to host or travel to France to face Bordeaux Definitely grew into the game as Munster finally clicked in the closing stages and looks to be a promising signing if they can keep him fit Very much of the Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse mould and with the scrum hat to boot Abrahams was lethal in possession and unlucky that Lucu was having one of those days making that tackle Munster player ratings v Bordeaux: ‘Hot and cold’ Jack Crowley ‘serves as a metaphor’ despite spirited fightback That’s probably the most fitting word to describe the Munster set-piece on Saturday Singling out players is unfair as collectively it was an awful day at the office it was incredibly disjointed on a nightmare outing A grim review of this set-piece will surely follow on Monday The execution from Diarmuid Barron and Niall Scannell just was not up to standard today as overthrows were all too frequent from both the hookers Hooker is an incredibly lonely position when things don’t go well and it must be a tough performance for both Barron and Scannell to swallow Two yellow cards made red for Cazeaux today Bordeaux were leading 29-10 when he rushed out of the defensive line with a clumsy head-on-head tackle on Josh Wycherley It ultimately cost him 10 minutes and was unnecessary especially as Munster were keen to find a route back He would later make a high shot to compound his woes Not overly disappointing in terms of his individual performance but when Sam Prendergast has a swagger in a Leinster outfit that is purring at the moment Crowley is always going to be facing an uphill struggle in his fight for the Ireland 10 jersey and British & Irish Lions selection Craig Casey also had an off day alongside at number nine Munster were desperate for impact from the bench and unfortunately Ahern and Kendellen were maybe a tad overeager to stamp their mark on the game Ahern had just come on when he received a yellow card for offside which cost his side dearly while Kendellen followed suit later in the match for a cynical offence at the Bordeaux maul Signing off from Munster at the end of the season O’Mahony was largely quiet as UBB’s forward pack dominated around the field and at the lineout He was replaced after 49 minutes as Munster desperately needed greater impact in their back-row but unfortunately those players did not provide the desired outcome READ MORE: Opinion: Munster’s ’embarrassing’ execution not befitting of proud club while Bordeaux’s ‘soft underbelly’ threatens title charge First-time Champions Cup finalists Bordeaux have suggested that Damian Penaud has a fighting chance of making the May 24 decider versus Northampton Following a pulsating Investec Champions Cup semi-final between Bordeaux-Begles and Toulouse here's our winners and losers from Sunday's clash Jordie Barrett is one of three Leinster players nominated for the award Following a 66-12 victory for Bordeaux-Begles against Sharks in the Investec Champions Cup here’s our five takeaways from the fixture at Stade Chaban Delmas on Sunday Damian Penaud powered Bordeaux-Begles to Pool One glory and made Champions Cup history with a six-try display which catapulted him to the top of the tournament try charts The France wing was an unstoppable force as he plundered a hat-trick in each half to become the first player ever to score half a dozen tries in the northern hemisphere’s premier club competition His pool total of 10 also set a new record The 28-year-old sensation nailed each of his three opportunities before half-time to pull his side back into the contest after a sluggish start and then bagged three more to seal a commanding win with early tries by Siya Maluku and Hakeem Kunene sixth and seventh tries of this tournament he is an arch finisher,” waxed the watching Topsy Ojo The fun was not over. Three more scores, as Sharks tired made it nine in two matches and double figures for the pool stages Victory for Bordeaux confirms them as top seeds and earned them a home tie in the Round of 16 against Ulster Sharks player ratings: Returning Springbok the ‘shining light’ as ‘woeful’ defence torn to shreds by Damian Penaud ‘insanity’ The Irish province qualified only because Bordeaux beat Sharks by more than 28 points They will have gone from cheering the Frenchmen to fearing what may now very well lie in store for them Sharks’ 10-try defeat condemns them to return to the Challenge Cup for the knockout stages of Europe’s secondary competition Matthew Robinson held the record for most tries in the pool stages of Europe’s premier cup competition having bagged nine for Swansea in the 2000/01 season It looked a record to stand the test of time but Penaud had other ideas adding to his hat-trick against Exeter last time out with a devastating display of finishing to bring up double figures He added his fifth of the campaign on 13 minutes finishing on the right after Bordeaux had secured line out ball and quickly moved it to the wide outside Five minutes later the France star struck again reading a Sharks offload brilliantly and walking the ball in On the stroke of half-time he collected his third putting the home side ahead for the first time popping up at first receiver on the other wing to crash over playing a 1-2 with Maxine Lucu as the scrum-half started and finished a length of the field counter-attack before he completed his four-timer with a clever chip and chase 13 minutes from time Still he was not satisfied and twice more he crossed the whitewash before referee Christophe Ridley put Sharks out of their misery Bordeaux have been a club on a mission since being routed 59-3 in Marseille by Toulouse in last season’s French Championship final That stung this proud club badly and their pledge to set the record straight has seen them blaze a trail in the Top 14 So it was that after Penaud’s first-half masterclass they not only kept their foot on the gas but pressed it to the floor Lucu trousered the four-try bonus point on 44 minutes and there were two more from Ugo Boniface and Yoram Moefana before the game reached the hour mark If any further evidence was needed of Bordeaux’s insatiable appetite for winning it came with their ruthless final quarter which featured fifth and sixth tries for the one man destroyer eliminated from the Champions Cup pool stages just months later it has been a campaign to forget for the Durban-based Sharks They could have qualified with a modest defeat Instead they suffered a repeat of the heavy beating they took at Leicester on their previous road trip After that 56-17 thumping head coach John Plumtree demanded the organisers change the scheduling of the competition “It might be a premier competition and a great competition,” he said “But unless they sort it all out and do it properly it’s not a high performance competition.” His anger was centred around the fact South Africa’s top players are required to compete in both hemispheres on a never-ending loop “They are not robots,” he said “And right now they’re treated like robots.” An early 12-0 lead in Bordeaux gave them false hope they were no match for the French Top 14 leaders since try scorer Hakeem Kunene was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle in the 13th minute READ MORE: Racing 92 v Stormers: Five takeaways as Owen Farrell impresses on return in victory ‘made in Fiji’ to dump Capetonians out of tournament A sparkling showing from Louis Bielle-Biarrey helped Bordeaux-Begles end Toulouse’s defence of the Investec Champions Cup and set up a final meeting with Northampton continued his excellent club season with a two-try performance conjuring a crucial score out of nothing at the start at the second half The 21-year-old phenom had already scored his first by that point tumbling in acrobatically after a Romain Buros break to extend the hosts’ lead before the break Toulouse rallied through a Pierre-Louis Barassi try and Bordeaux-Begles lost young back row Marko Gazzotti to a yellow card but late scores from Pierre Bochaton and Ben Tameifuna made certain of a 35-18 victory A fabulous atmosphere was created with plenty of supporters from both teams filling the cavernous Stade Matmut Atlantique on the outskirts of Bordeaux for a meeting of the top two sides in the Top 14 That is some Bordeaux Bègles try! 🤯Flying start to the second half for the hosts as Bielle-Biarrey scores within 20 seconds 🟣#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/N3aJ91wlzy But then came two moments of magic from Bielle-Biarrey, causing havoc alongside club-and-country wing colleague Damian Penaud again The youngster has now scored 30 tries in just 26 games in a superlative season Toulouse threatened a trademark second-half surge but passed off a number of opportunities as Bordeaux fought fiercely at the breakdown with replacement lock Bochaton scoring 15 minutes from time before enormous tighthead Tameifuna bashed over to make certain of victory Bordeaux-Begles will take on Northampton, who stunned Leinster in the other Champions Cup semi-final on Saturday in Cardiff on 24 May hoping to secure their first European title How France won the Six Nations – and why they could dominate the next few years Brilliant Northampton hand Leinster more Champions Cup heartbreak in semi-final epic Red Roses survive test they needed against France - but big decisions loom ahead of World Cup Damian Penaud was at his devastating best in Bordeaux’s emphatic 66-12 win over the Sharks in the Investec Champions Cup and it should certainly put the rest of the teams left in the competition on high alert The French side ended the group stages with four bonus-point wins from their four games helping them just pip rivals Toulouse to top spot in pool one They also finished the first round with a whopping 141+ points difference But the win over the Sharks was probably the pick of the bunch and Penaud was on hand to simply tear them apart with a magnificent attacking display Here is the full look at Penaud’s one-man destruction of the Sharks Bordeaux were able to unleash the winger in all kinds of space and this told in the metres charts as he notched an eye-watering 184 to his name from his 16 carries – an average of 11.5 metres per carry Penaud was able to slice through the porous Sharks defence with ease throughout his 80-minute shift as he notched a staggering six line breaks across the match Bordeaux-Begles v Sharks: Five takeaways as ‘unstoppable’ Damian Penaud dumps out Springboks-laden side after ‘campaign to forget’ once again leading the way for this across the game But the most telling stat of all is the fact he grabbed a whopping six of his side’s 10 tries in the mammoth victory but it now sets the record for the most tries scored in a single Champions Cup match beating Tom Beim’s record of five tries set back in the 2001/02 season Penaud was also on hand to provide one assist as his pass sent fellow French international Maxime Lucu over for a score in the second-half He also chipped in with two kicks out of hand and two turnovers – joint-most out of his side on the day READ NEXT: South African teams learn ‘HARSH’ Champions Cup lesson as Damian Penaud hits Sharks for six Munster defence coach Denis Leamy said they will be wary of Bordeaux-Begles fly-half Joey Carbery’s inside knowledge when they meet in their Champions Cup quarter-final on Saturday New Zealand-born Carbery started his senior career at Leinster in 2016 before joining Munster where he had a five-and-a-half-year stint the Ireland international joined Bordeaux at the end of last season after being overlooked for the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the two previous Six Nations campaigns Saturday’s clash with Munster will be at Stade Chaban-Delmas which is the same venue where Carbery impressed during Bordeaux’s 43-31 triumph over Ulster last weekend The 29-year-old was eventually replaced by France playmaker Matthieu Jalibert early in the second half and ahead of this weekend’s encounter Leamy revealed that Carbery‘s name has not been discussed during Munster’s preparations “I think we’ve just got to focus on ourselves He’s worked with pretty much everyone in the building so he’ll have a good idea of what we’re trying to do but ultimately we’ll just have to put our best foot forward and do it really Carbery decided to leave Munster after being usurped by Jack Crowley in the Irish province’s fly-half pecking order and Leamy admitted that he is not surprised that the Irish province’s former player has done well in his new surroundings “Joey’s a top-class player and we were sad to see him go he’s definitely a loss to the building here,” he added when guys want to go and seek other opportunities and sample a different culture etc “Everybody’s pleased for Joey and how it’s going for him and hopefully he has a very successful season 👉 Ireland star Jack Crowley makes decision on future amid heavy exit rumours Leamy knows that Munster will have to be at their best against their French opponents this weekend as apart from Carbery and Jalibert Bordeaux have several attacking threats with the likes of Maxime Lucu (scrum-half) Yoram Moefana (centre) and Romain Buros (full-back) all capable of wreaking havoc with ball in hand Certainly before Christmas they looked like favourites for the competition and I think that probably hasn’t changed a whole lot,” he said “Leinster did an amazing thing in Dublin on Saturday and you’d have to say they’re incredibly well positioned to win it as well but Bordeaux pre-Christmas were awesome in some of the rugby they were playing and you saw it in glimpses against Ulster; just their ability their speed and they’ve got X-factor players they’ve just got quality right across the pitch.” Munster have received a timely boost ahead of their trip to Bordeaux with the news that star centre Alex Nankivell is set to return to action after their appeal against his red card in the United Rugby Championship (URC) clash with Connacht was upheld Nankivell initially received a two-match suspension which meant he missed Munster’s last 16 Champions Cup triumph over La Rochelle The URC issued a statement which indicated that he will be available for selection for the Bordeaux-Begles encounter “Following the original disciplinary hearing on Wednesday the player exercised his right to appeal,” read the statement “An appeal panel consisting of Rod McKenzie [chair Achille Reali [Italy] and Rory Bannerman [Scotland] met on Wednesday “The appeal was upheld by the panel and the player is free to play in Munster’s Champions Cup quarter-final clash on Saturday 👀 READ MORE: 👉 EPCR reveal possible Champions Cup semi-final venues as Leinster and Bordeaux-Begles get added advantage over title contenders Joey Carbery is dreaming fondly of adding another Champions Cup trophy to his collection after a thoroughly entertaining semi-final win over Toulouse Following Bordeaux-Begles' 43-31 victory over Ulster in the Investec Champions Cup here are our winners and losers from the Stade Chaban-Delmas Ireland will face Georgia and Portugal this summer Following Bordeaux-Begles’ 43-31 win over Ulster in the Investec Champions Cup here are our winners and losers from an entertaining fixture at Stade Chaban-Delmas The Ulster wing shone all afternoon as Ward who didn’t stop in terms of work-rate was hugely unlucky to have one well-taken score chalked off Justice was served soon after though as he got a brace his performance deserved The former Sevens star really caught the eye on Sunday and higher honours could come later in the year An all-action try-scoring shift from the hooker as he popped up on numerous occasions offering lovely touches such as an offload that led to a try The 26-year-old would probably walk into many an international matchday 23 but is stuck behind a certain Toulouse pair When he does things like this it’s no surprise he is rated so highly. Penaud‘s try after six minutes was a thing of beauty as his perfectly timed switch back inside was then followed by a slalom score from distance as he raced to the whitewash The France international is such a joy to watch but he did struggle to impress thereafter 🟣 Damian Penaud, that is ridiculous!#UBBvULS #InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/YLzlUaJAzm — Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) April 6, 2025 Carbery v Jack Crowley in the Champions Cup quarter-final already whets the appetite and on this form both number 10s come into the game full of confidence Carbery was silky with ball in hand and is relishing leading this star-studded team alongside Maxime Lucu He was in great touch and one hopes the injury is not serious Up against the great Penaud, Stockdale certainly gave as good as he got this Sunday His outing started with a hulking charge over the top of one defender and he grew from there making plenty of strong carries that demonstrated his pace and offloading ability He looks very much back to his best form from a few seasons ago Fell way short in terms of impact as there was a big drop-off from the substitutes which coincided with Ulster clawing their way back to within touching distance Only a late score from Rohan Janse van Rensburg flew the flag for those coming off the bench and those on duty next week against Munster will have to bring much more Struggled to have the same impact his centre partner Stuart McCloskey did in the first half and was replaced at the break by Stewart Moore His attempted clearing kick with seconds remaining in the half led to Romain Buros going over One wonders whether that ultimately led to him being replaced While the UBB bench in general did not have the required impact in the closing stages Matthieu Jalibert and Yann Lesgourgues in particular will be disappointed with their individual showings Jalibert’s sloppy pass led to Ward grabbing a score while Lesgourgues – on for Lucu late on – sent a shocking first box-kick out on the full READ MORE: Ronan O’Gara admits to Jack Crowley ‘irony’ as Munster star puts La Rochelle in ‘freefall’ First-time Champions Cup finalists Bordeaux have suggested that Damian Penaud has a fighting chance of making the May 24 decider versus Northampton. Joey Carbery is dreaming fondly of adding another Champions Cup trophy to his collection after a thoroughly entertaining semi-final win over Toulouse. Following a pulsating Investec Champions Cup semi-final between Bordeaux-Begles and Toulouse, here's our winners and losers from Sunday's clash. Jacob Stockdale can use the summer as a time to convince the Irish coaches that he can still be a useful asset. You don't have permission to access the page you requested. What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed. Stade Toulousain sent out a stark reminder to its Top 14 rivals that it remains the king of French Rugby, proven with a thumping of Bordeaux-Begles in Friday's final, 59-3. Putting on a breathtaking display, the Antoine Dupont-inspired noir et rouge ran through its opponent like a finely tuned Alpine skier ducking and weaving down the slopes of Val d’Isère. What promised to be a contest that pitted the free-flowing and all-court Bordeaux attack against a tactically astute and explosively powerful Toulouse outfit, descended into an obliteration of epic proportions. Kicking the action off, Dupont proved once again that he is the greatest player currently walking the Earth, as he scored two sublime tries inside the opening 20 minutes, while also all but putting Peato Mauvaka over the whitewash for one in-between. Already in a near unassailable 22-3 lead at halftime, Toulouse removed the safety lever and hit the overdrive button in the second half. Running in six tries through Thomas Ramos (two), Julian Marchand, Blair Kinghorn, David Ainuu and Ange Capuozzo, Toulouse added an exclamation mark to an already dominant performance. Trying to describe this Toulouse side, one could find oneself going down a wormhole of hyperbole, which, in the end, would still not do them justice. In short, they are the greatest rugby team of the modern era and quite possibly of all time. As the streets of Marseille ready themselves for an avalanche of rugby fans to flood out from the ultra-futuristic Stade Vélodrome, the celebrations this Toulouse team are set to unleash could well outdo their all-time showing on the pitch. The URC will stream all its matches on FloRugby and the FloSports app in the United States. FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:  Get the most important Rugby stories delivered straight to your inbox. ©2006 - Present FloSports, Inc. All rights reserved. Union Bordeaux-Bègles' Damian Penaud. Pic: Billy Stickland/Inpho This quarter-final is one of two fixed points in seasonal rugby space and time for the French side The Top 14 final is the other one Bordeaux are working towards as players and coaches understand all too well risks being dragged into a faltering singularity “We promised ourselves we would get back to where we failed last year,” scrum-half Maxime Lucu told journalists after last Sunday’s round-of-16 win There are plenty of similarities between Bordeaux’s run to the last eight this year A strong group phase – they finished top of their pool both years; then a relatively comfortable run through the round of 16 beating Saracens 45-12 in early April 2024 That win over Saracens last year set up a home quarter-final against Harlequins.  Stade Chaban Delmas – as it will be this weekend – was full though storms are possible later in the afternoon Everything seemed set fair for a second semi-final in three seasons The Premiership side had other ideas.  Twelve tries later – at the end of an 83-point thriller in which the player of the match award could arguably have gone to the Quins’ pack but instead went to livewire Tyrone Green – Maxime Lucu missed a late conversion that would have won it for Bordeaux.  Quins reached their first Champions Cup semi-final 41-42 “We came out of the match against Saracens feeling euphoric we couldn’t have played better," Lucu recalled “We have to learn from that to start strong – and not concede two tries in 15 minutes.” Bordeaux aren’t thinking beyond Munster this weekend ignoring Harlequins and thinking ahead to a semi-final against Toulouse – and fell to a defeat that still hurts a year later but it also served us well for the Top 14 play-offs a month later,” Lucu said These matches are completely different from the group stage: you have to shift your mindset Training has been necessarily lighter this week and the intensity of last weekend’s win over Ulster Manager Yannick Bru said: “We’ve obviously targeted areas that interest us with quite a few players among us having hardly trained “We had a few minor injuries and some players struggled to keep going [in the heat] Bordeaux lost six turnovers against Ulster – Bru highlighted the issue on Sunday and came back to it later in the week.  “Everyone saw that Munster built their success on domination on the floor and in the contact zone against La Rochelle We know the Irish wear down French teams a lot in this area This was confirmed and our performance was below average against Ulster.”  Matthieu Jalibert and Damian Penaud were notable absentees against Harlequins last season because of injury at the business end of a long and difficult campaign.  Both are fit and in the starting line-up this time around who was rested last weekend; while Marko Gazzotti returns from a week’s vacation to the bench Prop Jefferson Poirot and hooker Maxime Lamothe both passed late fitness tests and will also start but fullback Romain Buros – one of France’s more solid players under the high ball – is out.  He has been replaced by the promising Jon Echegaray who last month scored the fastest try in Top 14 history touching down seven seconds into the game against Perpignan As well as work to improve Bordeaux’s efficiency at the breakdown – “this is an organisation issue but also a state of mind,” Bru insisted – there will be opponent-specific tweaks to the gameplan while the training behind closed doors at Andre Moga – the club’s former stadium turned training ground – was far from physically exhausting and try to keep Munster pinned in their own territory?  if they win at Chaban Delmas this weekend – a semi-final against either Toulon or Toulouse at the nearby Matmut Atlantique they either head to the Matmut Atlantique to face Toulouse or the Stade Gerland in Lyon to take on Toulon Eight of the last 10 Champions Cup winners have enjoyed hosting advantages throughout the knockout phase of the competition and La Rochelle a year later have bucked that trend only two sides have lost a semi-final match in which they were the top-seeded sides who lost to La Rochelle in Lens in 2022; and Leicester history reckons they’ll go all the way to Cardiff From as little as €1 a week with our digital introductory offer Already a subscriber? Sign in more munster rugby articles CONTRACT RENEWED: Jack Carty has renewed his contract with Connacht Rugby. Pic:  ©INPHO/James Crombie By clicking on 'Sign Up' you will be the first to know about our latest and best sporting content on this browser You have accepted push notifications for this content. If you would like to manage your push notification preferences, you can do so here. © Examiner Echo Group Limited, Linn Dubh, Assumption Road, Blackpool, Cork. Registered in Ireland: 523712. Meanwhile, Leinster will host Glasgow next Friday night in the Aviva Stadium (kick-off 8pm), when the prize for Leo Cullen’s team will be a home semi-final against the winners of the Northampton v Castres tie which will be played next Saturday evening (kick-off 5.30pm) Listen | 35:33In the other half of the draw the winners of the Bordeaux Bègles v Munster tie will face either Toulon or Toulouse whose all-French meeting will conclude the quarter-finals when they meet next Sunday 🚨 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 🚨Four HUGE games next weekend, which match are you looking forward to? Cardiff awaits, grab your tickets to the #InvestecChampionsCup final now ⬇️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Connacht’s 35-20 win over Cardiff last Saturday night has set up a home Challenge Cup quarter-final against three-time Champions Cup finalists Racing 92. Bordeaux Bègles will be favourites next Saturday, but Ulster exposed enough chinks in their armour to make Munster travel in hope. The Ulster coach Richie Murphy, who must have feared the worst when the home side ran up 21 points in the first 21 minutes in energy-sapping conditions, expressed himself “extremely proud of the lads, the way they stuck at it and stayed in the fight. “We played some really good rugby at times, the transitionary moments which we knew were going to come really cost us in that first half. A couple of loose kicks and they punish you really badly. Fair play to Bordeaux, and we wish them all the best going forward. Our focus turns to the URC.” Asked if he gave Munster a chance in the same stadium next Saturday, Murphy said: “You’ve always got a chance. It’s a very difficult place to come. The atmosphere will be incredible like it was yesterday. We wish them all the best.” O’Gara was more optimistic about his former province’s chances. “They’ve momentum now and that’s the most important thing. You look at it and think Bordeaux are a seriously impressive side, but they don’t have momentum because they got rattled by Toulouse’s so-called second team and they made them worry a lot and then they lost to Racing last week. “They’re on fire from September to March but there’s definitely been a slowing down, or a belt to the juggernaut that was Bordeaux. Munster love coming to France and they’ve been doing it for 25 years.” The pity is that as a consequence of the Anglo-French cartel in the EPRC restricting the Champions Cup to eight weekends, the quarter-finals are shoehorned into the calendar at barely six days’ notice. The estimated 3,000-strong Red Army which invaded La Rochelle had been planning their trips since January and can thus hardly be expected to travel in the same numbers. In the aftermath of Munster’s win on Saturday evening and in the event of Bordeaux Bègles beating Ulster on Sunday, it was suggested to the Munster interim head coach Ian Costello that returning to France a week later was a big ask for the province’s supporters. “You won’t get too many people complaining from what I saw. There’ll be kids’ piggybanks raided. There’ll be people here, that’s the magic of it. “There’s people that would prefer not to go on summer holidays to get two weekends like this. That’s what’s special about the club.” In all his time within Munster’s coaching structure, since 2006, Costello said he had had never experienced such a “special” occasion. “I went to meet a few friends just to get out of the hotel for an hour and it was shivers down your neck stuff. I think I saw a picture of Gaillimh [Mick Galwey] up on a cherry picker singing Zombie. That’s next level insanity!” “When we came in [to the ground] somebody sent us a video of the crowd outside and so we knew it was big. Northampton this year I thought was incredible but I hadn’t seen anything like that for a long, long time. “That set the tone. What it means to our supporters. There was talk of 2,000 here, there were way more than 2,000. “We got that sense this morning, so it is special, and that’s probably why last week was so important too,” said Costello in reference to the URC win over Connacht. “Because we want to make sure we’ve our bread and butter looked after to be in this competition. “The reality is now, we want to have three more days like this. You take one game at a time but there’s no point in this being our cup final. It would nearly disrespect what the club have done. We’ve three matches left to have a crack at winning a trophy.” Jeremy Loughman suffered a hamstring injury in the win over La Rochelle while it seems likely they will be again without Alex Nankivell, who was given a two-week suspension for his red card against Connacht. “The hearing was only last Wednesday, so a challenging time between the URC hearing and we’d to have that appeal by 12pm on Friday. We’ve a decision to make now as a club, do we appeal that, and we’ll make that decision tomorrow because the appeal will be Monday if it is.” Friday, April 11th: Leinster v Glasgow Warriors, Aviva Stadium, 8pm (live on RTÉ 2 and Premier Sports) Saturday, April 12th: Bordeaux Bègles v Munster, Stade Chaban-Delmas, 4pm local/3pm Irish time (live on Premier Sports); Northampton Saints v Castres, Franklin’s Gardens, 5.30. Sunday, April 13th: Toulon v Toulouse, Stade Félix Mayol, 4pm local time/3pm Irish. Gerry Thornley is Rugby Correspondent of The Irish Times Facebook pageTwitter feed© 2025 The Irish Times DAC 🚨 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫-𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 🚨Four HUGE games next weekend, which match are you looking forward to? Cardiff awaits, grab your tickets to the #InvestecChampionsCup final now ⬇️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Munster take on Bordeaux-Bègles this Saturday in the quarter-final of the Investec Champions Cup Find out all you need to know ahead of the game below Niall O’Donovan To Depart Munster Rugby This Summer  Alex Nankivell Free To Play After Appeal Upheld  Munster Squad Prepare For Champions Cup Quarter-final Report | Brilliant Munster Seal Famous Win In France Leamy & Prendergast To Join Ireland Coaching Team For Tour Both sides will be named on Friday at 1pm. beIN SPORTS / France TV / Premier Sports / FloRugby / SuperSport Alex Nankivell Free To Play After Appeal Upheld Niall O’Donovan To Depart Munster Rugby This Summer Sign up to our weekly newsletter, bringing you the latest news, updates and exclusives about Munster Rugby The Munster squad are continuing preparations at the HPC ahead of Friday's Round 17 Interpro derby match at Thomond Park against Ulster 7.35pm. Read this... Champions Cup quarter-final: Bordeaux Bègles 47 Munster 29Sure enough, a second consecutive knock-out win on French soil after their first in 23 years a week previously proved beyond them. But Munster and their brilliant fans were defiant until the end and died with their boots on against the tournament’s top seeds Union Bordeaux Bègles (UBB) were a team on a mission after last season’s one-point loss to Harlequins at the same stage in front of their 13th full house of the season With Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert pulling the strings they ruthlessly capitalised upon the many malfunctions of a Munster side which returned to its proper red jerseys but were off-colour compared to their display in La Rochelle Despite an enforced change at hooker before half-time Munster’s lineout continued to wobble throughout as they lost nine of their own throws between steals as were some of the unforced handling errors avoidable penalties and a certain passivity in defence against the star-studded UBB backline Munster kept probing and ultimately scored four tries even bringing themselves to scores of another miracle A quarter of a century on from the Red Army’s birth for the famous semi-final win over Toulouse in this very city they possibly even equalled the estimated 3,000 who exhorted their team to a famous round of 16 win against Ronan O’Gara’s side [ Bordeaux 47 Munster 29 (FT) - second half comeback falls short as Munster’s Champions Cup campaign endsOpens in new window ] "Oh, what a try!" 🎙️Pete Samu finishes a wonderful Bordeaux Bègles move and extends his side's lead 🟣#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/1SpLr3hoyK Perhaps it was the proximity of their main battalion immediately in front of the press box but they certainly made that side of the ground in the half Munster attacked in the first-half feel more like a home game while it was a big ask of their supporters it proved too big an ask for the Munster team to scale last week’s highs Munster brought their fans straight into the game by storming out of the blocks and showing their ambition when changing the point of attack before Farrell passed long to Andrew Smith on the left He jinked past tackles before Farrell carried hard and might have offloaded to Craig Casey Jack Crowley’s long pass to Tadhg Beirne on the right touchline inside his own 10 metres was a further sign that Munster to coin a phrase form their former head coach Alan Gaffney But the pass was forward and this was immediately punished by UBB’s strike move off the ensuing scrum 35 metres out Samu picked from the base and fed Rohan Janse van Rensburg who pulled the ball back for Jalibert to place a perfectly weighted grubber which bounced on cue for Damian Penaud to establish a tournament record of 12 tries in a single campaign this was cancelled out by Jalibert after Ben Tameifuna incurred the wrath of the Munster fans and exchanged gestures with them after theatrically holding his face when dipping into a tackle by Jean Kleyn which Hope for @Munsterrugby! 🙌Andrew Smith reduces his side's deficit with his second try of the game 🔴#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/7yez7rqMnB Munster’s lineout was starting to creak and when Maxime Lamothe charged at their backline after gathering Diarmuid Barron’s overthrow just outside his own 22 Samu’s pick and go injected impetus before Yoran Moefana released Penaud off his wing on the left edge and his grubber was finished by Maxime Lucu The penalties against Munster were mounting too and although Tadhg Beirne relieved another assault on their line with a brilliant penalty in the jackal two metres from his line Jalibert’s chip was reclaimed by Louis Bielle-Biarrey amid some hesitant defenders and where fullback Jon Echegaray danced infield and offloaded for Samu to finish Their fourth try also originated in a Munster mistake Crowley knocking on when wrapping around Alex Nankivell Although he saved a try with a two-handed attempt at an intercept from the big UBB scrum which ensued Jalibert wrapped around Echegaray and fizzed a pass to Bielle-Biarrey His threat and footwork effectively drew four players before he fed his fullback to take Crowley’s tackle and score Jalibert again converted and at 29-3 it was looking ugly for Munster Even the arrival of Niall Scannell didn’t solve their lineout issues although his second throw did connect and when the maul was sacked he tapped a penalty Beirne deftly passing inside to Coombes and from the recycle Casey fizzed a pass for Nankivell to score Crowley’s fine conversion made it 29-10 at the break but Munster lost two more attacking lineouts and there was a forward pass by Nankivell to Smith off another The procession of penalties against UBB did lead to a yellow card for Cyril Cazeaux to the backdrop of La Marseillaise from the home fans and defiant cheers from the away ones But after Jalibert landed a penalty Munster struck from deep Farrell picking off the base of a ruck to charge upfield and Nankivell found Smith on the edge for the winger to score a superb try of his own grubber Crowley hit the upright with his conversion and Jalibert landed another penalty before Tom Ahern was binned when tackling from an offside position after a big break by Yoran Moefana Lamothe then scored off a powerful UBB catch-and-drive and a Jalibert penalty after Alex Kendellen was curiously binned again following collapsed maul When Seán O’Brien’s long pass for Farrell looked like yielding a try Nika Amashukeli binned Echegaray and awarded a penalty try for his deliberate intercept "That's the full stop!" 🎙️Louis Bielle-Biarrey with a try that all but guarantees victory for Bordeaux Bègles 🟣#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/bLxG2DWzvM Munster had long since thrown caution to the wind, and a sustained attack, featuring big carries by Mark Donnelly and Nankivell, culminated in Crowley grubbering perfectly for Smith to score his second try. What’s more, Cazeau incurred a second yellow, and thus a red card, for a high hit on Farrell and a miracle seemed fleetingly possible as Thaakir Abrahams scampered up the touchline only for Lucu to make a try-saving covering tackle. Instead a counter-ruck which illegally took out Conor Murray, but was permitted by Amashukeli, led to a trademark bout of close-range offloading led to Lucu giving Bielle-Biarrey a finish in the left corner for the killer score. It said it all that both sets of fans stayed inside the stadium to applaud their teams and a memorable contest. Scoring sequence: 6 mins Penaud try 5-0; 10 mins Crowley pen 5-3; 12 mins Jalibert pen 8-3; 13 mins Lucum try, Jalibert con 15-3; 22 mins Echegaray try, Jalibert con 22-3; Echegaray try, Jalibert con 29-3; 40 (+ 3) mins Nankivell try, Crowley con 29-10; (half-time 29-10); 51 mins Smith try 29-15; 54 mins Jalibert pen 32-15; 57 mins Lamothe try 37-15; 67 mins Jalibert pen 40-15; 68 mins penalty try 40-22; 73 mins Smyth try, Crowley con 40-29; 78 mins Bielle-Biarrey try, Lucu con 47-29. Bordeaux Bègles: Jon Echegaray; Damian Penaud, Yofana Moefana, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Mathieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu (capt); Jefferson Poirot, Maxime Lamothe, Ben Tameifuna; Cyril Cazeaux, Adam Coleman; Mahamadou Diaby, Guido Petti, Peter Samu. Replacements: Marko Gazotti for Diaby (47 mins), Matis Perchaud for Poirot, Sipili Falatea for Tameifuna (both 55 mins), Pablo Uberti for van Rensburg (56 mins), Pierre Bochaton for Coleman (58 mins), Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer for Samu (both 60 mins), Connor Sa for Lamothe (63 mins), Yann Lesgourgues for Jalibert (68 mins). Yellow card: Cazeaux (47-57 mins). Echegaray (68-78 mins). Munster: Thaakir Abrahams; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Andrew Smith; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Josh Wycherley, Diarmuid Barron, Oli Jager; Jean Kleyn, Tadhg Beirne (C); Peter O’Mahony, John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes. Replacements: Niall Scannell for Barron (38 mins), Stephen Archer for Jager, Tom Ahern for (both 49 mins), Seán O’Brien for Nash, Fineen Wycherley for Kleyn (both 59 mins), Alex Kendellen for (63 mins), Conor Murray for Casey (67 mins), Mark Donnelly for Wycherley (71 mins). Yellow card: Ahern (55-65 mins). Kendellen (65-75 mins). "Oh, what a try!" 🎙️Pete Samu finishes a wonderful Bordeaux Bègles move and extends his side's lead 🟣#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/1SpLr3hoyK Hope for @Munsterrugby! 🙌Andrew Smith reduces his side's deficit with his second try of the game 🔴#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/7yez7rqMnB "That's the full stop!" 🎙️Louis Bielle-Biarrey with a try that all but guarantees victory for Bordeaux Bègles 🟣#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/bLxG2DWzvM and lineups have been announced for the French top-flight championship match.  After a thrilling semifinal, Bordeaux-Begles secured its place in the final by narrowly defeating Stade Francais with a 22-20 win.  The heroics came down to a last-gasp missed conversion attempt by Stade Francais fly-half Joris Segonds This victory marks Bordeaux’s breakthrough after three consecutive semifinal losses in recent seasons.  The other team in the final? None other than the defending champion, Toulouse.  Damian Penaud and L'Union when the match kicks off Friday The match will be broadcast in the USA on FloRugby Here are the lineups for the Top 14 grand final: The Top 14 finale is streaming in the United States on FloRugby and the FloSports app. Match replays, highlights and more will be on both platforms.  The Top 14 final is June 29 and will be broadcast on FloRugby in the USA. This year's Top 14 final will be played at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, France.  The Top 14 will stream all its matches on FloRugby and the FloSports app in the United States.  FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to: Costello maintained that even when 29-10 down at the interval a comeback was not beyond his team, not least after Alex Nankivell’s try in added time at the first period. Ultimately, Munster made more carries for more metres in matching the dozen line breaks by UBB but were outscored by six tries to four and their hopes of a comeback weren’t helped by their start to the second half. “I think if we started the second half well we were capable of overturning a 19-point lead and we missed a couple of opportunities with a forward pass off a maul and an overthrown lineout in that 40-50 minute period when we had them under pressure and we needed to score early. But yeah, first 50, very disappointed with. “I suppose [there were] two key areas. We struggled with lineout and turned over a lot of ball. Of all teams in European rugby, you turn over the ball against them, you get punished and we did.” Munster lost nine of their own 21 throws under intense pressure from the UBB defensive lineout. “We know they’re the best defensive lineout, that’s a real strength of theirs,” said Costello. “We’re disappointed. It’s something we have to look at in the cold light of day. As you said, in that last 15-20 minutes, when we got our game going – and I don’t mean just spirit and character. I never want to take that for granted. I think that was incredible, the way the lads fought back. “There was so much quality in the way we put them under pressure. Just really disappointing not to get that last score to take us within seven with four or five minutes on the clock when they were down to 13. I would have loved to have seen what that looked like.” Alex Codling, who had been Munster’s lineout coach on an interim basis, is back with the Ireland women’s teams but Costello would not attribute their difficulties to his absence. “We’ve got world-class lineout forwards and Alex was in on Thursday with us, on his down day as well. We’ve got some other very capable staff – and we’ve got to problem-solve on the field. I don’t know the reasons why yet. We’ve got to analyse that closely. It’s been a real strength of ours for a while and it’s going to be really important for the rest of the URC season.” A weary and deflated Tadhg Beirne, the Munster captain, commented: “I thought the fight by Munster was incredible at the end, and the scoreline probably doesn’t reflect that. I’d say towards the end there were a few nervous bodies in Bordeaux but they probably showed their class at the end in terms of how clinical they were, and I think their last try depicted that. “In the first half, we just couldn’t hold on to the ball and I think that’s something that we’ll be really frustrated with because I think when we did hold on to the ball, we showed what we could do. Some forced offloads or knock-ons and then probably the thing that sticks out most is unfortunately our lineout didn’t function very well today and there’s lots of reasons for that, but you also have to give credit to Bordeaux in terms of how they defended it as well. “They got in the air very well and we knew they were a big aerial threat. They mirror very well, but there was a lot of errors, whether it was poor calls for me or individual errors in the lineout as well and when you’re at this level of competition, if your lineout doesn’t function when you have as many lineouts as we did, you’re going to be fighting an uphill battle. “Obviously, I call the lineout so that’s going to be a thing that sticks out for me particularly, but overall you’ve got to just say the class of Bordeaux was there. You saw it from a lot of very good tries on turnover ball and all that, but we just came up short.” This is a repeat of last year’s semi-final, which was held in Croke Park, although having moved two games to the home of the GAA already this season, Leinster have opted to host the Saints at the Aviva Stadium this time. Northampton secured their place in the last four with a facile 51-16 win over Castres. The other all-French semi-final will see Bordeaux host Toulouse, after their dramatic 21-18 win in Toulon, at the Matmut Stadium de Gerland on Sunday, May 4th, (kick-off 3pm). The Munster interim head coach Ian Costello had said that if his side did not back up their titanic round-of-16 win over La Rochelle a week p-previously it wouldn’t count for anything. However, over the course of the last two weeks Munster had a famous win over Ronan O’Gara’s team, and with the dust having barely settled on Saturday’s defeat, Costello accepted that strides had been made in the last three weeks, beginning with their win over Connacht in Castlebar over a fortnight ago. “I’d go back to that Connacht game, we were under an awful lot of pressure. It was one we had to win for our URC season or we wouldn’t be in this competition next year, so the energy, the vibe, the feeling in the camp is really positive. “The coaches and the staff have done a really good job, especially in the last month, and the players have been outstanding. Today was about being fresh. The danger was emotionally we wouldn’t reach the same levels. Today wasn’t about emotion. Today was about accuracy and we didn’t execute. “That’s going to be the regret piece because I thought we had a really, really good week. We felt we had a good plan. Unfortunately we weren’t accurate enough to execute.” That win in La Rochelle was Munster’s first knock-out victory on French soil since 2002 and their team reconnected with their supporters, which must have numbered 3,000 or so again in the 32,215-capacity crowd, at the venue where the Red Army was effectively born in the semi-finals 25 years ago. “We couldn’t hear on the mic; we struggled to get messages to the other side of the field,” said Costello. “The support was incredible. We’re going to regret what could have been today in terms of our performance. Very disappointed for that huge support. It was the same last week, last week was special, and this was another opportunity in a special competition with such a good following. So very disappointed that we didn’t give them the performance that they deserved.” Munster now turn their attentions to the URC, where they must achieve the basic target of a top eight finish and with that qualification for next season’s Champions Cup. They sit fifth, five points adrift of the Sharks and six behind the third-placed Bulls, whom they host at Thomond Park next Saturday, but also mindful of the eight teams below them who are within six points. “We’ve one focus, finish as high up the league as possible, make sure we’re in the play-offs, that’s the first priority,” said Costello. “We’ve got massive games left. We’ve worked our way up from 13th to fifth and it’s making sure now over the next couple of weeks, the Bulls and Cardiff, we’ve two performances and two results. Unfortunately we don’t have a semi-final, that will give us a chance to take a break and really hit the last couple of games of the season as well. “The URC is huge for us as well. It’s just very disappointing to go out of a competition that we love so much.” Connacht will also have truckloads of regrets after a 43-40 loss in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup at the Dexcom Stadium last Saturday night to Racing 92 despite playing most of the game against 14 men. They thus missed out on a home semi-final against Lyon and sit 13th, three points adrift of the top eight, and with a trip to South Africa on Monday ahead of games against the Stormers and Lions. BIG BOOST: Munster centre Alex Nankivell. Pic: Ben Brady/Inpho In a major boost ahead of the Champions Cup quarter-final at Stade Chaban-Delmas the former Maori All Black has had a two-match suspension overturned by a new independent disciplinary panel convened following Munster’s appeal lodged on Tuesday The centre was forced to sit out last Saturday’s European Round of 16 win at La Rochelle under EPCR competition rules as the ban was in place at the time but the statement from URC means he is available for selection once more and Nankivell is sure to be named in Munster’s matchday squad on Friday He had been red-carded by match referee Craig Evans during a URC derby at Castlebar's MacHale Park on March 29 The New Zealander's 25th minute clearout of a jackaling Cian Prendergast had been deemed an act of foul play under Law 9.20a – “A player must not charge into a ruck or maul Charging includes any contact made without binding onto another player in the ruck or maul.”  The Panel at the initial hearing had found the incident “reckless and met the Red Card threshold under Law 9.20b (A Player must not make contact with an opponent above the line of the shoulders) with entry of low-end warranting a two-game suspension" The challenge did leave the Connacht skipper needing hospital treatment though he is on course to return to the starting line-up for his province’s Challenge Cup quarter-final at home to Racing 92 on Saturday if he completes his return to play protocols the appeal at the second disciplinary hearing on Wednesday of this week saw a newly-convened independent panel take a different view of Nankivell’s actions The URC statement issued on Thursday read: “Munster Rugby's Alex Nankivell is free to play following an appeal by the club which was upheld “In the Round 14 BKT URC Connacht v Munster game (Saturday the referee Craig Evans showed the Player (Alex Nankivell 12) a Red Card in the 25th minute of the game under Law 9.20a - A Player must not charge into a ruck or maul Charging includes any contact made without binding onto another player in the ruck or maul “Following the original Disciplinary hearing on Wednesday April 2 An Appeal Panel consisting of Rod McKenzie (Chair Achille Reali (Italy) & Rory Bannerman (Scotland) met Wednesday April 9 "The appeal was upheld by the Panel and the Player is free to play in Munster Rugby's Investec Champions Cup Quarter Final clash on Saturday April 12.” DERBY: Peter O’Mahony is looking forward to a “spicy” derby when he returns from injury for Munster’s must-win URC derby with Ulster at Thomond Park on Friday. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie You have accepted push notifications for this content. If you would like to manage your push notification preferences, you can do so here The 30th Investec Champions Cup competition is considered by many to be the best professional rugby tournament in the world and just a level below international test rugby.  The competition features 24 clubs divided into four pools of six clubs and the top 16 clubs advance to the knockout stage with the goal of making it to Cardiff Wales – which hosted the first Champions Cup Final– and Principality Stadium on May 24.  One of those teams looking to advance to the EPCR Final is Union Bordeaux-Begles Rugby Here are a few things to know about UBB Rugby: Bordeaux got some revenge earlier this fall with a head-to-head win in a 2024 Top 14 Final rematch they were trailing Toulouse in the Top 14 table and though the team didn't beat Toulouse with Antoine Dupont but a Champions Cup favorite this season.  UBB Rugby played in perhaps one of the greatest Champions Cup matches seen in recent years but was on the wrong end of a 42-41 match with Harlequins in the quarterfinals.  Already a subscriber? Log In UBB scored in the 75th minute to make it 42-41 but Maxime Lucu missed the conversion.  Bordeaux trailed 35-22 at the 58-minute mark but scored 14 points in just six minutes.  UBB went 3-1 in and won Pool 1 last season.  Bordeaux has never advanced to the Champions Cup Final.  Yannick Bru is the head coach of Union Bordeaux-Begles He was hired before the 2023 season when he was an assistant for the Hollywoodbets Sharks he was the head coach of Bayonne from 2018-2022.  Here are all the UBB players in the FloRugby Top 100 Player Rankings: Union Bordeaux-Begles play in Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux.  Here is the Union Bordeaux-Begles' Champions Cup schedule: Every Bordeaux match in the Investec Champions Cup is streaming live in the United States and Canada on FloRugby and the FloSports app.  Key points for the 2024-2025 EPCR Challenge Cup: the TOP 14 and the Gallagher Premiership that have not qualified for the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup will compete in the 2024-2025 EPCR Challenge Cup the winner of the 2024 EPCR Challenge Cup will secure a place in the 2024-2025 Investec Champions Cup replacing the eighth-ranked club in its league and the four-round pool-play action ends on Jan Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker where Toulouse is far and away one of the most successful rugby clubs in the world The red and blacks have the Champions Cup six times and the Top 14 championship 22 times The defending Top 14 champions are fresh off another Champions Cup win and, oh yeah, they also have Antoine DuPont, who is, pound-for-pound, one of the best rugby players in the world ranking third in match points scored and fifth in match points allowed during the 26-round season UBB beat 14-time Top 14 champion Stade Francais Toulouse defeated last year's runner-up and Champions Cup winner Substitutes: 16. Clement Maynadier 17. Ugo Boniface 18. Kane Douglas 19. Pierre Bochaton 20. Pete Samu 21. Paul Abadie 22. Pablo Uberti 23. Toma’akino Taufa Substitutes: 16. Julien Marchand 17. David Ainu’u 18. Clement Verge 19. Joshua Brennan 20. Paul Graou 21. Ange Capuozzo 22. Paul Costes 23. Joel Merkler ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW: Munster have a short turnaround after their epic win over La Rochelle to prepare to return to France to face Bordeaux Bègles. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile Munster return to Bordeaux 25 years after their Heineken Cup semi-final win over Toulouse in 2000.  Bordeaux are unbeaten to date in the competition securing their place when they saw off Ulster last weekend Munster won the Champions Cup in 2006 and 2008 while Bordeaux have not progressed beyond the semi-final.  This is the first encounter between the two sides in the Champions Cup The match takes place at Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux with a 3pm Irish time/4pm local time kick off The game will be shown live on Premier Sports 1 with coverage starting at 2.30pm Georgia’s Nika Amashukeli will be the man in the middle for the clash.  As Munster prepare for their second trip to France in two weeks, the club are set to make a call on whether they will appeal Alex Nankivell's two match suspension.  What can I read about and listen to on IrishExaminer.com Follow the lead up to the game on irishexaminer.com as our reporter Simon Lewis and our columnists Donal Lenihan and Ronan O'Gara.  France’s gifted young flyer Louis Bielle-Biarrey starred as Bordeaux-Begles overcame a half-time deficit to beat a spirited Leicester Tigers 42-28 in the Investec Champions Cup The Tigers were excellent in the first half and went 21-14 in front through Harry Wells but UBB were magnificent in the third quarter They touched down three times in the 10 minutes after the break, with two of them coming through Bielle-Biarrey who continued his fine form after an exceptional Autumn Nations Series Pete Samu also crossed the whitewash to complete his brace but there was still time for Nicolas Depoortere and Izaia Perese to touch down as both sides ended with a try bonus-point Having rested a number of players for this Champions Cup encounter, Leicester knew that their challenge would be significant Michael Cheika’s men fronted up physically and played with pace and were rewarded with two tries in the opening quarter Although Bordeaux also touched down in that period the Tigers had shown their intent and it was perfectly demonstrated with the opening try despite their penchant for moving the ball wide but they were smart as the visitors managed to manipulate the hosts’ defence and get one-on-one carries A neat lineout move and good line from Olly Cracknell allowed the number eight to move to within inches of the line and Wells was on hand to cross the whitewash as Leicester failed to deal with the kick-off and Samu scythed through the defence to touch down But Cheika’s outfit were excellent in the opening period and they regained their advantage following another close-range score and in a see-saw encounter they once again levelled matters when Guido Petti went over but it was the away side who went into the break ahead thanks to Joussain Stormers’ horror run continues after loss to Toulon while Northampton flex their quality against Castres The hosts went into half-time slightly stunned evidence by Jalibert’s errant pass straight into touch in the final act of the opening 40 minutes but they responded superbly in the third quarter Leicester had started well but a turnover changed all the momentum Hanro Liebenberg was so close to breaking through but his knock-on was collected and kicked ahead by UBB The lightning Bielle-Biarrey chased and was far too quick for the Tigers’ covering defence as he equalised soon into the second period It was the score they needed to spark a three-try blitz in 10 minutes as Samu crossed the whitewash following a Jalibert kick before Bielle-Biarrey came to the fore once again France’s electric full-back took advantage of good work from Depoortere as the centre sped down the left and gave Bielle-Biarrey a run-in That remarkable passage of play effectively decided the game with Freddie Steward consistently involved but Bordeaux’s defence remained resolute their chances were ended when Depoortere scored but they did get a bonus-point through Perese’s late effort READ MORE: Saracens v Bulls: Five takeaways as Jake White’s men outclassed in ‘old-school’ tussle after Storm Darragh takes it toll and England snub shines Following a breathtaking two days of semi-final action in Europe it's time for James While to select our Investec Champions Cup Team of the Week How Bordeaux-Begles' players rated in their Investec Champions Cup semi-final triumph over Toulouse at the Matmut Atlantique on Sunday Following a 35-18 victory for Bordeaux-Begles against Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final here's our five takeaways from Sunday's game It's quarter-final time in the Champions Cup and huge games are set to take place on Friday Saturday and Sunday as teams battle to make the last four You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed MUNSTER will be aiming to once again topple a French giant away from home in the Champions Cup this weekend Fresh off pipping La Rochelle 25-24 in an epic they go again this afternoon against the tournament's top seeds Bordeaux secured their spot in the quarter-finals by seeing off a dogged Ulster 43-31 Here's everything to know about today's encounter: The match will be shown live on Premier Sports 1 So only subscribers with the Irish channel or those with a NOW TV membership will be able to stream it The home side are heavy favourites to progress at 1/6 while the Irish province are 4/1 to pull off another upset. You can back the draw at 25/1. The handicap is set at +/-11 points. Joey Carbery will not face his former club after injury ruled him out of this last-eight Cup clash. He also converted all four of the French side’s first-half tries But the former Ireland star only lasted 46 minutes of the last-16 tie at the Stade Chaban Delmain after he picked up an injury and was replaced by Matthieu Jalibert The Frenchman will wear the No  10 jersey when the sides line out are boosted by the news that Alex Nankivell returns to the starting line-up for today’s quarter-final The 28-year-old centre had faced a two-match ban after he was red-carded in last month’s URC clash away to Connacht But the New Zealander is now free to play in France after his club successfully appealed the suspension The only other change to the Munster XV in Stade Marcel Deflandre last week is Bantry native Josh Wycherley who comes in for the injured prop Jeremy Loughman Stephen Archer could make his landmark 300th Munster appearance off the bench Ahead of the upcoming Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) have revealed the possible venues for the competition’s semi-finals The prestigious tournament is well and truly at its business end with the quarter-finals set to take place this weekend while EPCR have confirmed that the semi-finals will take place on May 2 This weekend’s quarter-final matches will get underway at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Friday where Leinster, who were runners-up in the last three Champions Cup finals, will host Glasgow Warriors The action resumes on Saturday when there are two matches scheduled to take place with Bordeaux-Bègles hosting Munster at Stade Chaban-Delmas in the day’s early game before Northampton Saints and Castres face off at Franklin’s Gardens The last clash of the weekend takes place on Sunday when it’s an all-French affair as Toulon do battle with the tournament’s defending champions Toulouse at the Stade Felix Mayol EPCR have announced that there are four potential venues to host this season’s semi-finals Dublin’s Aviva Stadium and Milton Keynes’ Stadium MK the semi-finals will be decided and the clubs with the highest rankings from the pool stage of the tournament will earn home country advantage for those encounters one in Ireland and one in England – will host a Champions Cup semi-final but it all depends on which club advances with home country advantage With Bordeaux and Leinster being the top-seeded teams from the pool stages they will host their semi-finals in the event that they win their respective quarter-finals Bordeaux would host French rivals Toulon or Toulouse at Matmut Atlantique while Leinster will host Northampton Saints or Castres at the Aviva Stadium If Glasgow Warriors defeat Leinster this weekend Franco Smith’s charges will head to Milton Keynes where Saints will host the semi-final at Stadium MK or Matmut Atlantique if Castres beat Northampton 👉 Leinster coach lauds ‘inquisitive’ Sam Prendergast after winning Lions shootout in mammoth Champions Cup win Toulon will host a semi-final at Matmut Stadium de Gerland in Lyon if they get the better of Toulouse who could possibly host a last four match if they beat Toulon and Munster see off UBB The Investec Champions Cup Final is scheduled for Saturday Last year’s semi-finals between Leinster and Northampton Saints at Dublin’s Croke Park and Toulouse v Harlequins at Le Stadium in Toulouse saw unprecedented demand for tickets with over 115,000 snapped up in under 24 hours May 2/3/4 (Pool stage rankings in brackets) Bordeaux-Bègles (1) v Toulon (4) or Toulouse (5) – Matmut Atlantique Leinster (2) v Northampton Saints (3) or Castres (6) – Aviva Stadium Northampton Saints (3) v Glasgow Warriors (7) – Stadium MK Toulon (4) v Munster (9) – Matmut Stadium de Gerland Toulouse (5) v Munster (9) – Matmut Atlantique Castres (6) v Glasgow Warriors (7) – Matmut Atlantique 👀 READ MORE: 👉 Champions Cup Team of the Week: ‘Shades of Ronan O’Gara’ with Munster match-winner as Jack Willis ‘sends message’ to Andy Farrell SundayChampions Cup: Bordeaux Bègles v Ulster Bordeaux-Begles head coach Yannick Bru’s decision to rest the Six Nations player of the tournament, try-scorer extraordinaire Louis Bielle-Biarrey and French international flanker Marko Gazzotti is either braggadocio or a realistic appraisal of the task that lies in front of them. Ulster get a shot at determining which is closer to the truth The French club trimmed Ulster 40-19 in Belfast at the pool stage of the tournament but both teams are much changed from that match Jefferson Poirot and Argentina’s Guido Petti who switches from secondrow to flanker for this game Bru’s selection is informed to a point by injuries flanker Lachie Swinton and number eight Tevita Tatafu are enforced absentees who had a super game at the Kingspan Stadium retains the 10 jersey with French international Matthieu Jalibert on the bench Richie Murphy’s side boast eight who lined out the last day a try scorer on his return from hamstring injuries last weekend a late withdrawal in the win over the Stormers while James McNabney takes over from Matty Rea at blindside flanker Iain Henderson and Ethan McIlroy are at different stages of the rehabilitation journey Ulster led 19-14 at half-time in the pool match between the sides but conceded four tries as the French side gave full vent to their attacking prowess to which Irishman Noel McNamara has a significant input as backs coach [ If Munster free their minds, they could deepen Ronan O’Gara’s problemsOpens in new window ] Bordeaux proved to be unplayable for all their pool opponents, racking up 177 points in the other three matches as they trounced Leicester Tigers (42-28), Exeter Chiefs (69-17) and the Sharks (66-12). Their inclination is to play at a high tempo and if the visitors afford them that latitude – it’s going to be a long afternoon. Ulster’s set piece is going to have to improve, particularly the scrum, where they need to find a way to present reasonable pictures to referee Luke Pearce. The giant Tongan tighthead Ben Tameifuna, all 150kg of him, is a handful on his own but the home side have opted for an outsize backrow too by shifting Puma Petti to flanker alongside Mahamadou Diaby and Wallaby international Pete Samu. Maxime Lucu underlined his quality when replacing the injured Antoine Dupont in the Six Nations game against Ireland, a match in which Moefana and Penaud, as try scorer, also excelled. Ulster demonstrated character in the way they came back from a 17-0 deficit to win last weekend against the Stormers, but they won’t want to repeat that soft opening. The Irish province need to get Jacob Stockdale, Stuart McCloskey and Mike Lowry, into the game in a meaningful way, players capable of breaking open a match. The pack has to front up if the visitors are to have any chance; it would be great to see Nick Timoney and his two promising aides-de-camp in the backrow James McNabney and Dave McCann prominent in all facets. Ulster are huge underdogs but that doesn’t mean they have to be hobbled by outside expectations. Time to stand up and see where it takes them. Bordeaux-Begles: R Buros; D Penaud, Y Moefana, B Tapuai, P Uberti; J Carbery, M Lucu (capt; J Poirot, M Lamothe, B Tameifuna; C Cazeaux, A Coleman; M Diaby, G Petti, P Samu. Replacements: R Latterrade, M Perchaud, S Falatea, P Bochaton, B Vergnes-Taillefer, Y Lesgourgues, R Janse van Rensburg, M Jalibert. Ulster: M Lowry; Z Ward, J Hume, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; J Murphy, J Cooney; A Warwick, R Herring, T O’Toole; A O’Connor (capt), K Treadwell; J McNabney, N Timoney, D McCann. Replacements: T Stewart, C Reid, S Wilson, M Dalton, M Rea, N Doak, A Morgan, S Moore. John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer Here's how to watch the 2024 Union Bordeaux Begles vs Pau on FloRugby Following Bordeaux Begles’ 40-19 win over Ulster here are our five key takeaways from a pulsating game at the Kingspan Stadium Ulster came into the game licking their wounds after last weekend’s humiliation in Toulouse but it wasn’t any easier for them this week with fellow French juggernauts Bordeaux Begles It looked like a repeat of last weekend early doors as Tevita Tatafu reaped the rewards of a clever lineout move over the line after 90 seconds but Ulster quickly rallied to pull level just three minutes later through Cormac Izuchukwu the hosts started to gain the upper hand and eventually took the lead as Nick Timoney spun his way around the defence to score a deserved try with David Mccann sent to the sin-bin as a result the URC outfit retook the lead on the stroke of half-time through Werner Koch The second-half was fairly even for the most part but a rapid blitz from the visitors allowed them to romp to victory Damian Penaud was the first to cross after 61 minutes but in the following 10-minute spell both Guido Petti and Louis Bielle Biarrey added their names to the scoresheet Ugo Boniface powered his way over the line just as the clock stuck 80 It wasn’t their usual 80-minute brilliance but when Bordeaux turn it on they are simply superb They were clunky with ball-in-hand and simply lacked that venom we’ve come to know of them they turned it on and showed just what they can do Readers’ Team of the Year: A whopping 10 Springboks feature including ‘timeless great’ and ‘cake loving’ prop One thing that was clearly missing from their performance was talismanic fly-half Matthieu Jallibert with replacement Joey Carberry not able to live up to the Frenchman’s brilliance Jallibert is arguably one of the most creative and naturally talented fly-halves in the world and that makes him so crucial to this side and if Carberry wants to oust him from the shirt – a hard task – he needs to have better outings than this one Maxime Lucu put in a stellar performance to keep his side within touching distance when they found themselves down on the scoresheet and around that the likes of Bielle-Biarrey Damian Penaud – who didn’t have his best game until his try – and Man of the Match Tevita Tatafu turned it on The introduction of Garcia Mateo was also influential in turning the game on its head again proves they are one of the front-runners for the title They just stayed in the game despite it seemingly getting away from them and then were able to just pull away with ease when at their best Ulster rotated heavily between the two games but they looked vastly improved in almost every area after their capitulation in Toulouse and should take pride from it despite the scoreline but it was what they did off the back of this work that should please Richie Murphy They used this as a platform to launch some classy strike plays and crucially get the ball into danger men Stuart McCloskey Ulster just found different ways to unlock the Bordeaux defence that simply wasn’t on show against Toulouse Dan Biggar proposes solution to the currently ‘unmanageable’ South African Champions Cup issue minus the sudden turn around in the scoreline Romain Ntamack and Emmanuel Meafou were able to slice through the line with ease but today Bordeaux just couldn’t replicate this until around the 65th Kieran Treadwell and Izuchukwu were at the heart of this defensive improvement and managed to really restrict their French opponents usually champagne attack Ulster face a fairly tough draw in this year’s Champions Cup with a visit to Welford Road in the next round before facing Exeter Chiefs at home but the opening spells will certainly give them something to take away from the game Antoine Dupont might have clouded our judgment of the hard transition between XVs and Sevens, but winger Zac Ward certainly shone on his Ulster debut after making the reverse move who joined the club on an initial trial basis after the Olympic Games made himself incredibly busy around the park and came up with some seriously delicious touches too His sheer size and power made him a real handful for Bordeaux’s backline but he also managed to consistently find gaps around the park to drag his side up the pitch he made himself a consistent option in attack and as every good winger in the modern game does now he came off his edge to look for work and this again really complimented the Ulster attack and This performance will certainly prick the ears of temporary Ireland boss Simon Easterby ahead of the Six Nations with a potential spot open in the back three after their lacklustre Autumn he picked up another knock early doors against Ulster who joined from Exeter Chiefs at the start of the season spent the entirety of the 2023/24 season on the physio table with a serious knee injury and he was withdrawn again today with what appeared to be an ankle injury but yet still walked off the pitch with a hefty limp This injury will certainly cause Gregor Townsend some heartache too after he opted to rest during the Autumn Nations Series to prioritise club games and this European block but now he could once again find himself without his star lock for the upcoming Six Nations READ NEXT: Bulls v Northampton: Five takeaways as hosts ‘abysmal game management’ costs the win while Saints underline title credentials in Pretoria heat After a thrilling Round Three which saw French sides dominate with big wins for Bordeaux-Begles here’s our Investec Champions Cup Team of the Week Unsurprisingly there is plenty of French representation in the line-up with the remaining players coming from Bath 15 Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers): A timely return to form for the huge Tigers full-back as he had a day to remember in the Welford Road gloom against Ulster Thomas Ramos was simply brilliant for Toulouse in the Durban heat whilst Rhyno Smith had a powerful outing for Benetton 14 Damian Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles): Blistering form from a world-class wing Penaud might have had four rather than three had he not chosen to set up his fly-half Blair Kinghorn performed strongly for Toulouse whilst Sebastian Cancelliere impressed all in a try-scoring display for Glasgow 13 Ollie Lawrence (Bath): It took about five minutes of the Bath match for Lawrence to be on our Team of the Week radar as the England centre shone at the Rec against Clermont Yoram Moefana thrived at outside centre for UBB whilst Tommaso Menoncello impressed for Benetton 12 Nacho Brex (Benetton): A consolation prize for the brilliant Italian centre as his team appeared to be on the end of some strange calls from the officials Brex was magnificent on both sides of the ball in a powerhouse display of his craft He edges Glasgow talisman Sione Tuipulotu as our 12 11 Remi Baget (Castres): A ten-minute hat-trick for the flying Castres wing who was the centrepoint of their thumping win against the Bulls Ollie Hassell-Collins was magnificent in grabbing a brace for Leicester Tigers and Louis Bielle-Biarrey could well have made another Planet Rugby Team of the Week if it wasn’t for the need for variety as he starred once more for Bordeaux 10 Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Begles): Jalibert is still just about the most discussed player in France and is easily the equal of any of the great attacking tens of the world He was simply sensational in Exeter as he masterminded the thrashing of Chiefs Manie Libbok might have taken the shirt in any other weekend Jack Crowley was a key part of the Munster performance against Saracens whilst Finn Russell scored one and made one in Bath’s win versus Clermont 9 Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Begles): Our player of the round as the French international had one of those days where everything he touched turned to gold Baptiste Serin shone in Toulon’s win against Quins Antoine Dupont delivered in the Durban heat 8 Caelan Doris (Leinster): The battle of the two eights, Gregory Alldritt and Doris, is as big as the La Rochelle-Leinster rivalry itself and the Irishman took the spoils in a magnificent display on the Atlantic Coast France will be delighted with Anthony Jelonch‘s continued recuperation as he delivered a big shift for Toulouse Yoan Tanga was influential for Stade Francais grabbing two in a memorable evening for his club where Henry Pollock had a storming first-half display for Saints La Rochelle v Leinster: Five takeaways as Jacques Nienaber’s ‘tough-as-teak defence’ leaves Ronan O’Gara ‘cursing’ 7 Josh van der Flier (Leinster): Simply magnificent and the difference between the two teams against La Rochelle The Irish star was brilliant on both sides of the ball at Stade Marcel Deflandre Rory Darge is unlucky to miss out for his brilliant performance against Racing Temo Matiu was another high-quality performer for UBB dominating the lineout in their impressive win at Chiefs whilst Fitz Harding led brilliantly in Bristol’s fortunate win against Benetton 6 Esteban Abadie (Toulon): Given Toulon play left and right rather than openside and blindside shirt numbers are irrelevant so we’ve squeezed Abadie in on the blindside to give them a representative Abadie’s timing couldn’t have been better given Charles Ollivon’s injury Francois Cros was tireless for Toulouse as he hammered 24 tackles in the Durban heat a shout out for young England hopeful Finn Carduff impressing all as he made his European debut for Leicester Tigers 5 Tadhg Beirne (Munster): Massive big enough to see off the claims of JJ van der Mescht and Emmanual Meafou both brilliant for Stade and Toulouse respectively David Ribbans reminded all English fans of what they’ve missed since he left for Toulon and RG Snyman was a big part of the Leinster success at La Rochelle with JD Schikerling also shining for the Stormers 4 Paul Gabrillagues (Stade Francais): The big lock delivered a shift to match his frame as he inspired his team to turn over a 21-0 deficit Joe McCarthy scored for Leinster in their superb performance in France and Peceli Yato may have lost in Bath but gave their lineout the fright of its life as Clermont showed pride at the Rec 3 Thomas du Toit (Bath): Is there a week where the Tank doesn’t get in our team He scored again – twice – of course he did that’s what you get and once again he was world-class but to see Dorian Aldegheri lift the great Bok clean out of the Sharks’ scrum was a bet you’d have got very long odds on Joe Heyes had a great romp for Leicester Tigers whilst Max Lahiff crossed in rather controversial circumstances for Bristol Bears against Benetton 2 Harry Thacker (Bristol Bears): The hooker’s try-scoring record is something else and he was in rumbustious form as his team won narrowly at Ashton Gate Peato Mauvaka was simply brilliant all day for Toulouse in the humidity Julian Montoya had another high-quality afternoon at the Welford Road coalface 1 Dian Bleuler (Munster): A crucial try and the repelling of the Sarries stars in the pack sees the Munster loosehead grab the last place of the weekend Toulon’s Dany Priso delivered an all-action effort on the French Riviera whilst Bevan Rodd shone for Sale Sharks despite their loss to the Stormers and sent a message out to Steve Borthwick that he’s ready for a recall to England duty READ MORE: Who’s hot and who’s not: Antoine Dupont outshone by ‘glorious performance’ while Ilona Maher scores big and Mack Hansen’s bashing Owen Doyle has insisted that Leinster should have been awarded a game-winning penalty try in the final minute of their Champions Cup semi-final How we rated the Munster players in defeat to the Bulls Our Champions Cup Team of the Week following the round-of-16 action Munster player ratings following their incredible 25-24 victory over La Rochelle Following Bordeaux Begles’ 42-28 win over Leicester Tigers in the Investec Champions Cup Magical work from the fly-half, who is certainly doing everything he can to make Fabien Galthie regret the Autumn fallout. It seemed – especially in the second-half – that everything he touched turned to gold, and his champagne touches were instrumental in their fight back. There’s something about playing for his club, and playing in the Champions Cup too that brings the best out of him and he will need to replicate his showing again if they want to reach the latter stages Just freakishly good at rugby for a 22-year-old He had a fairly quiet first-half by his usual high standards but my word he burst into life in the second but being deployed in the 15 shirt today meant he popped up in different areas of the pitch which actually brought the best out of him The French international also played a key role in their resurgence The number eight was incredibly busy throughout his shift His powerful work in the wide channels was so vital in allowing the backline to flourish around the park and he was able to get his side consistently past the gainline and also keep the Leicester line stretched WATCH: Stade Francais ditch rugby tactics for WWE brutality with Brock Lesnar-inspired suplex and ‘dangerous’ clothesline Their second-half show should set the tone for them this year in the Champions Cup and they will certainly be one to watch in this competition Whilst they found themselves down at half-time when they got going they looked imperious and just waltzed past Leicester What’s also worrying for the rest of the competition is they just effortlessly went up the gears and eventually ran away with the game The visitors will take a lot of positives out of this game but the scrum will certainly be their biggest but the Tigers had their number at virtually every scrum and got a proper foothold in the game as a result This is one of the areas that made Leicester the champion side they were in the past and it seems they are going back to that sort of DNA again now He just fits the mould of a typical Leicester back-rower and today was yet another sign of this The South African is such a workhorse around the park and always seems to just pop up in the exact area his team needed him which was so important in getting them the upper hand early doors Will he soon be attracting the interest of Rassie Erasmus but Michael Cheika will certainly be pleased with his team’s performance for the most part Leicester looked very sturdy in the first-half and kept to the blueprint that they’ve adopted this year even under the cosh but the thing that will fill him with joy is the fact he tested a lot of new faces at the highest level This experience will be a great stepping stone for a lot of his squad and it now gives him plenty of food for thought with his selection as he should have a lot more choice as a result The losing bonus-point was also very deserved Rob Baxter: Springboks-laden Sharks could have been put under ‘horrible pressure’ but we ‘blew it’ the Bordeaux pack will be furious with their scrummaging showing They are regarded as one of the most formidable in Europe and just took them to the cleaners for most of the game The way Bordeaux play is clearly built on their champagne backs but it requires some grunt up front to get them on the front-foot and they just couldn’t get this done against Leicester That should show teams at the top table – the likes of Toulouse and Leinster – that they could be there for the taking should they bring it at scrum time He is finding minutes very hard to come by at Test level with Antoine Dupont and Nolann le Garrec ahead of him in Fabien Galthie’s eyes but he didn’t really do anything to change that today but he needs to be the star of most of Bordeaux’s games moving forward if he wants to properly get back into the picture for the Six Nations He just wasn’t able to do that today READ NEXT: France’s newest star rips spirited Leicester Tigers to shreds as Bordeaux-Begles ease to victory Following a breathtaking two days of semi-final action in Europe, it's time for James While to select our Investec Champions Cup Team of the Week. How Bordeaux-Begles' players rated in their Investec Champions Cup semi-final triumph over Toulouse at the Matmut Atlantique on Sunday. Following a 35-18 victory for Bordeaux-Begles against Toulouse in the Investec Champions Cup semi-final, here's our five takeaways from Sunday's game. It's quarter-final time in the Champions Cup and huge games are set to take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as teams battle to make the last four. Former Ireland international Joey Carbery picked up an injury in his first outing for new club Bordeaux Bègles on Saturday. The outhalf left Munster at the end of last season in favour of the French club. Starting at 10 for Bordeaux’s Top 14 second round fixture away to Lyon Olympique Universitaire, Carbery impressed in the opening half, putting five points on the board from a conversion and penalty. But his debut was brought to a concerning end when he was injured in the 41st minute, forcing Matthieu Jalibert into the game as replacement. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Bordeaux’s head coach Yannick Bru confirmed Carbery’s injury, adding the club suspect he suffered a hand fracture. Lyon ultimately took the win, with the game ending 28-26.