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Even at full-strength, Leicester would have struggled against the most potent attack in Europe. But without a string of first-choice forwards – including Ollie Chessum, Joe Heyes, Tommy Reffell and Nicky Smith – the result at a sun-drenched Stade Chaban-Delmas was never in doubt.
So it proved as Bordeaux Bégles tore their English guests to shreds, scoring nine tries to underline their status as continental champions with a 64-14 win. A quarter-final against their domestic rivals, Toulouse, will be required viewing next weekend.
It took a while for the floodgates to open. A Maxime Lucu penalty was all the hosts had to show for their dominance after 20 minutes. Both teams were sloppy with ball in hand but a creaking Leicester scrum, and an inability to pin Bordeaux down in their own half, meant this was just the quiet before the storm.
Cameron Woki, brilliant around the park all game, got things going when he used every inch of his rangy frame to dot down under contact.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey provided two assists in six minutes – first for Salesi Rayasi with a one-two down the left wing, then for Lucu after wriggling through a narrow gap in midfield – before inevitably he scored one of his own. Before the half-time whistle sounded, Mathiew Jalibert scythed through the Tigers’ white wall on the 22 and played a simple inside ball for the hooker Maxime Lamothe.
It was a 40-minute exhibition that reaffirmed some harsh truths. The first was that French club rugby operates on a different plane to its competitors. A Sunday report in L’Équipe revealed the latest TV deal between Canal+ and the Top 14 and Pro D2 is worth more than £120m annually, meaning teams near the top end of the league pull in sums only seen in football elsewhere.
The second was that any team that treat this competition lightly won’t last long. While there is no question that some of Leicester’s internationals deserve a rest, Tigers fans could be forgiven for feeling frustrated by the pre-match lineup given their next league game is at home against the bottom-placed Newcastle Red Bull in a fortnight. Especially as the two-time European champions offered glimpses of their potential after the restart.
Aggressive defence on halfway had Izaia Perese snatch an intercept and beat Bielle-Biarrey to the line. And after big Ben Tameifuna charged over two tacklers to score a famous prop’s try, the impressive Billy Searle, on as a substitute, rounded off a clinical move down the blind side after some tenacious work at the breakdown inside Bordeaux’s 22 just before the hour.
Both coaches emptied their benches and the game lost much of its continuity. The shrill blast of Andrew Brace’s whistle, used sparsely in the first period, became a regular feature. Sensing the creeping ennui settling over the place, Bordeaux shifted gears, like only the best teams can, and produced another stunner at will. Tameifuna once again steamrolled over a hapless tackler to provide go‑forward. Hugo Reus then dinked a delicious grubber that flat-footed Leicester’s defence and found the onrushing Rayasi.
That knocked the stuffing out of the Tigers. How many more did Bordeaux want? Arthur Rattier notched one when Temo Matiu popped an offload close to the line, capping off his team’s relentless continuity in close contact. Rayesi completed his hat-trick – his second of the season against Midlands opposition, after doing the same against Northampton in January – as he made Adam Radwan and Freddie Stewart look like mannequins, sidestepping them down the right wing en route to the try-line.
“It’s one thing to win a title, it’s another to go back to back,” Tameifuna said, speaking to Premier Sports who pressed him to say more about his try. “I was screaming for the ball and there was only one way to go and that was forward. So I just put my head down and had a crack.”
That sums up Bordeux’s attacking spirit, one that is setting new heights and getting pundits such as John Barclay to talk about Bielle-Biarrey and Jonah Lomu in the same breath. This was the team placed fourth in France against the side ranked third in England. The evidence suggests the gap between the two ecosystems is only getting bigger.
