22-05-2025
Saints can use England template, believes Benjamin Kayser
On that occasion, Freeman towered above his jet-heeled counterpart to take a Fin Smith cross-field kick and score – a tactic Kayser wouldn't be surprised to see Saints try and replicate at Principality Stadium in a clash being shown exclusively live on Premier Sports 1.
'Freeman doesn't want to be one-on-one against Bielle-Biarrey on the ground but in the air, he'll take it all day,' Kayser said.
'That's what happened in the Six Nations, the try that got England back in it was a cross-kick by Fin Smith for a catch by Freeman on Bielle-Biarrey's head.
'They will click copy and paste and look to do exactly the same thing on Saturday.
'But if you give him (Bielle-Biarrey) a bit of space, he will show everyone he is the fastest attacking back in world rugby at the moment.
'He is not a Freeman type of winger in the air but on the ground, at full tilt, you don't want to give him any space.'
Hopes are growing for Bordeaux that Kayser's former teammate Damian Penaud will be fit to take his place on the opposite wing to Bielle-Biarrey, while Matthieu Jalibert will pull the strings at fly-half in a star-studded side.
Saints, of course, have three British & Irish Lions in their own backline – making this a clash Kayser is relishing.
'It's a delightful final, they are head and shoulders above the two teams who attack the most in this competition,' added the 40-year-old, who is part of a 15-strong TV team delivering the Investec Champions and EPCR Challenge Cup for Premier Sports, the broadcasters of international club rugby's premier competitions.
'Both semi-finals were out of this world good, I didn't give Saints the slightest chance of beating Leinster in their own backyard but they played so well, it was such a good game.
'Penaud being back would be huge. He knows these occasions – he played in a Champions Cup final with me for Clermont in 2017 – and he is now an experienced player with 50 France caps.
'I genuinely thought he had snapped his Achilles (in the semi-final win over Toulouse), I was really scared for him, you could read on his face and his body language that it looked bad.
'But hopefully we will see him, you want to see the full shebang of Bordeaux stars playing in that final, and Penaud is one of the most exciting players in world rugby.'
Saints are preparing for their third Champions Cup final – and looking for their second victory – while Bordeaux are newcomers on this stage.
UBB fans may be outnumbered by the Shoe Army this weekend, but they will travel in their numbers to the Welsh capital and make themselves heard.
'Winning it would be huge for Bordeaux,' Kayser said.
'They are title hungry. They won the Top 14 equivalent forever ago, in the 1990s, when Bernard Laporte was a player.
'They have never been to the Champions Cup final,l but they have taken French rugby to a different dimension in the past couple of years.
'Stade Chaban-Delmas attracts 25-28,000 people every weekend, it's a beautiful place to live – everyone wants to go and embrace the social side of rugby, have a couple of glasses of wine, jump on the beach and watch rugby. There are a lot of worse ways to spend a weekend.
'The power has shifted from Biarritz and Bayonne up to Bordeaux, they are leading the way in terms of entertainment without having a huge billionaire financial backer.
'They want to write a page in their history book that they genuinely did not think they would do this year. If they do, it would be ginormous.'
Premier Sports is the home of Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup with 80 games live throughout the competition including this weekend's Finals on 23 and 24 May live from Principality Stadium, Cardiff.
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