CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL: Why most neutrals will be supporting Saints

After what happened in the semifinal in Dublin you’d hesitate to write off Northampton Saints but nonetheless the English club face a massive uphill task when they clash with Bordeaux-Begles in the showpiece final of the Investec Champions Cup in Cardiff on Saturday.

To refresh memories, the Saints got through to the decider by beating Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, a game that most pundits, including this one, said it was impossible for them to win.

Leinster were at home, they had been finalists albeit narrow losing ones three years in a row, and they had come across massive whitewash wins of Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors.

Most importantly, and this is why most neutrals will surely be supporting Northampton in a final that could well be the most one-sided in quite a few years, Leinster have been the only team in recent seasons that has looked capable of challenging the French hegemony.

Since Exeter Chiefs beat Racing 92 by four points in the 2019/2020 final, and that result seems so long ago given how the Chiefs have struggled in recent times, only French teams have won it.

Toulouse, who lead in number of overall wins in the European competition, have won it twice in that period, in 2020/2021 and last season, with consecutive wins for La Rochelle sandwiched in between. Toulouse beat La Rochelle to win it that first year and Leinster have been losing finalists ever since.

Are we going to see the French prevail again in Saturday’s sold out game at the Principality Stadium? The smart money would say so. The Saints played the game of their lives against Leinster, with their pack standing up to and even at times shading a unit loaded with players who were subsequently named in the British and Irish Lions touring squad.

More significantly, their attacking game tore apart a defensive system mentored by former Springbok World Cup winning coach Jacques Nienaber, scoring four first half tries, with England wing Tommy Freeman completing a hattrick, before halftime had even arrived.

IF POLLOCK CAN DO LEINSTER AND BULLS HE CAN DO AUSSIES

The other first half try was a brilliant solo effort from the sensational 20-year-old flanker Henry Pollock, a precocious talent who will have a big say in Saturday’s decider if there is going to be another upset. Pollock is enough reason to watch the game all on his own.

He divides opinion even in England, mainly because of his cocky, confident nature for someone so young, but South Africans will remember the role he played in a statement win for Northampton against the Bulls at Loftus back in December.

There’s a theory he will be sorted out in Australia on the Lions tour, but for goodness sake, if the Bulls couldn’t sort him out it is unlikely any Aussies will. And if he manages to boss a game against crack French opposition it will be a huge statement to those who doubt him.

Saints had to hang on towards the end and had to survive two yellow cards against a Leinster team that came back strongly in the final part of the game, but their 37-34 win was well merited against a team that had won 62-0 against Harlequins and 52-0 against Vodacom United Rugby Championship title holders Glasgow.

One fancies they may have to hang on though for a longer period against a Bordeaux outfit that has scored the most tries and most points in the competition and were impressive in breaking a bit of a hoodoo for them against Toulouse in playoff games in their semifinal.

They had beaten Toulouse twice in league play, but their most recent playoff games against their fellow French giants had always been won by Toulouse.


WILL HAVE WORK CUT OUT CONTAINING FRENCH WINGS

What Northampton will cling to is that the 35-18 win was recorded at Bordeaux’s romanesque home ground of Stade Chaban-Delmas, a tough and inhospitable venue for any visiting team, whereas Saturday’s game is at a neutral venue. Winning in Cardiff has to be an easier task from that viewpoint than in front of a Leinster supporting full house at the Aviva.

But there’s also no denying Bordeaux’s red hot form and while halfbacks Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert effectively won the semi with their game management and the pinpoint kicking that kept Toulouse on the back foot, it is their pacy and slippery French international wings Louis Bielle-Barry and Damian Penaud.

Sharks fans in particular will remember, or want to forget, what Penaud did to them when the teams met in Bordeaux in January in a pool game.

However, that’s where Saturday’s clash could be interesting - aside from the flying Freeman, who scored for England in every game of the recent Six Nations, there is a chance that Northampton could have two other England internationals as part of their back three.

George Furbank, the club captain who has been out since he was injured against the Bulls, is back in training and a decision was to be made on him late in the week, while there is also a slight chance that Ollie Sleightholme, who had ankle surgery after the Six Nations, could be ready to play.

Those bits of good news though are counter-balanced by an injury crisis at hooker, while the pressure on Furbank to return is fuelled by injuries to the Saints’ other fullbacks.

Juarno Augustus, the former Stormers player who was recently called up by Rassie Erasmus to a national alignment camp, is also out of the final and that is a big loss considering how good he was in the semifinal.

Regardless who plays though, the bustling and talented French team should be too good across the park for Northampton, though that’s exactly what we said before they faced up to Leinster….

INVESTEC CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL

Bordeaux-Begles v Northampton Saints (Cardiff, Saturday 3:45pm)

Prediction: Bordeaux to win by 15