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Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
European Rugby Champions Cup final: when is it and how to watch it
Northampton Saints lock horns with Bordeaux-Bègles in the Champions Cup final this weekend. Here are all the details you need on the big match. When is the match? The Champions Cup final is on Saturday at 2.45pm BST. Venue The Principality Stadium in Cardiff. Saturday's match be the ground's sixth Champions Cup final, as many as Twickenham. The Challenge Cup final between Bath and Lyon is at the same venue on Friday night. In Bordeaux, 20,000 free tickets sold out within half an hour to watch the final on big screens in Place Des Quinconces, one of Europe's grandest public squares. TV details Fans in the UK can watch the final on Premier Sports or on S4C, whose is stream of the the match is available on its YouTube channel and on the BBC iPlayer. Team news Damian Penaud looks likely to make his return after an ankle injury had him limping off the pitch in the semi-final victory over Toulouse. Penaud has been crucial to Bordeaux's success in the competition, having scored 21 tries. Curtis Langdon and James Ramm both came off before half-time in Northampton's win against Saracens last weekend, casting doubt over their chances to play in the match. Alex Coles is also not expected to return despite having featured in the same game. Juarno Augustus suffered an injury in the build-up to the Saracens match, making his participation doubtful. Route to the final Northampton finished top of their pool after losing just one of their group matches. Following knockout victories over Clermont and Castres, they then defeated Leinster in spectacular fashion in the semi-final. After a first-half hat-trick from Tommy Freeman, steadfast defence kept Leinster at bay to push the Saints over the line 37-34 in a result few expected. Bordeaux went unbeaten in the pool stage and then defeated Ulster and Munster to reach the last four. In the semi-final, they brushed aside defending champions Toulouse 35-18. Bordeaux's forwards have been rampant so far, not least Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who stood out with two tries to shut down Toulouse's brief, first-half comeback. Champions Cup pedigree Of the two sides only Northampton have won the Champions Cup, beating Munster 9-8 in the 2000 final at Twickenham. Three penalty goals from Paul Grayson saw them over the line in a storm-affected match. They also reached the final in 2011, losing to Leinster. Bordeaux are entering unchartered territory but will be hoping to extend a run of four successive French victories in the final, with Toulouse and La Rochelle having won it twice apiece. Head to head The two sides have only ever met once, in 2020, with Bordeaux winning 16-12 in the first round of the Champions Cup. A late Santiago Cordero try sunk Northampton, who had been leading for much of the game thanks to four Dan Biggar penalties. The odds Northampton to win: 5/2 Bordeaux to win: 1/3 Prize money
The Star
22-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Rugby-Fresh-feel final to crown new kings of Europe
FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - European Champions Cup - Semi Final - Leinster v Northampton Saints - Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland - May 3, 2025 Northampton Saints' James Ramm scores a try REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) -There is a fresh and exciting look to the European Champions Cup final as Northampton face Bordeaux Begles at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, with the English club in the final for the first time since 2011 and the French side making their debut. In the last 15 years Leinster (seven finals), Saracens (four), La Rochelle (three), Clermont (three), Toulon (three) and Toulouse (three) have dominated Europe's premier club competition. Leinster were denied a fourth successive appearance - having lost the last three - by an inspired Northampton in an epic semi-final. The team languishing in eighth place in the 10-team Premiership overcame yet another home advantage for the Irish side, who have provided 12 players for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, to triumph 37-34. That earned Northampton a third appearance in the final after their victory over Munster in 2000 and defeat to Leinster in 2011 and they will be the first English club in the decider since Exeter beat Racing in 2020. Northampton's defence of their Premiership title has not gone well this season but in Europe they have hit the heights. Their backline is virtually England's and, in 19-year-old flanker Henry Pollock, they have one of the breakout stars of the sport. Pollock had not started a Premiership game before this season and was playing for England's under-20s in February, but his incredible combination of pace, athletic ability, nose for a turnover and aggressive mindset have catapulted him into stardom. He scored two tries on his debut off the bench for England in March and is in the Lions squad, sealing his ticket with a brilliant display against Leinster in the semi-final. Tommy Freeman, another Lion and prolific try-scorer for England, grabbed a hat-trick in Dublin while Fin Smith, another enjoying a breakthrough season, was superb at flyhalf as Northampton stunned Leinster with their ambition in attack then held them at bay at the death with a backs-to-the-wall defensive effort on their own line. 'We want to make sure that the semi-final is not the summit of our season, director of rugby Phil Dowson told the club's website. "We have to focus on what it means to perform on a big stage, we don't want to get too caught up in 'it's been 25 years and are we going to do something different'." Bordeaux are hardly short of stardust themselves, with France wingers Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey giving them dual finishing power that is the envy of the world. Bordeaux navigated through the pool stage comfortably with four bonus-point wins before overcoming Ulster 43-31 in the round of 16 and Munster 47-29 in the last eight as Penaud set a tournament record of 12 tries. They then found a new level with a clinical 35-18 semi-final victory over Toulouse, who they trail by one place at the head of the French top 14 table. Bielle-Biarrey, who like Freeman scored in every match of the Six Nations as he bagged a tournament record eight, has been similarly deadly for his club. The 21-year-old's frightening pace has increasingly become the cutting edge that finishes off Bordeaux's attacks and he scored a crucial try against Munster in the quarters then two in the semi-final win over Toulouse. "Louis - sometimes you see it, you know he's going to do it, and he still does it, even if the defender is expecting it," said fullback Romain Buros. "Naturally, it's great to play with players like that, because defenders tend to focus a bit more on them than on others, and that creates space for the rest of us." Reaching the final is a significant milestone for the club, which was founded in 2006 via the merger of Stade Bordelais and Begles and promoted to France's top 14 in 2011. There is another Anglo-French meeting in the final of the Challenge Cup in Cardiff on Friday night when Premiership leaders Bath take on Lyon. (Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Toby Davis)
Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
George Furbank could return for Northampton Saints in Champions Cup final
George Furbank is in surprise contention to feature for Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup final against Bordeaux Bègles on Saturday — but the club face a potential injury crisis at hooker. Furbank broke his arm in Northampton's statement victory over the Bulls in December, ruling him out of the Six Nations. The England full back made his comeback in April but any blow to the plate in his forearm still caused severe pain and a loss of feeling. Northampton are already without one full back in George Hendy and they are giving James Ramm every chance of proving his fitness, after the Australian limped off against Saracens on Saturday with an apparent ankle injury. However, those concerns would be offset, at least in
Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Northampton v Saracens: Score and latest Premiership updates
17 May 2025 2:06pm 2:05PM Teams Northampton Saints: 15. James Ramm, 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Fraser Dingwall (c), 12. Rory Hutchinson, 11. Tom Litchfield, 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell, 1. Emmanuel Iyogun, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Trevor Davison, 4. Temo Mayanavanua, 5. Tom Lockett, 6. Alex Coles, 7. Josh Kemeny, 8. Henry Pollock. Replacements: 16. Craig Wright, 17. Tarek Haffar, 18. Elliot Millar Mills, 19. Ed Prowse, 20. Angus Scott-Young, 21. Jonny Weimann, 22. Jake Garside, 23. Tom Seabrook. Saracens: 15. Alex Goode, 14. Tobias Elliott, 13. Elliot Daly, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Rotimi Segun, 10. Fergus Burke, 9. Ivan van Zyl, 1. Eroni Mawi, 2. Jamie George, 3. Marco Riccioni, 4. Maro Itoje (c), 5. Nick Isiekwe, 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Ben Earl, 8. Tom Willis. Replacements: 16. Theo Dan, 17. Phil Brantingham, 18. Alec Clarey, 19. Hugh Tizard, 20. Theo McFarland, 21. Andy Onyeama-Christie, 22. Charlie Bracken, 23. Angus Hall. 1:59PM Premiership season coming towards its conclusion The Gallagher Premiership regular season is coming towards its conclusion and we are at Franklin's Gardens as last season's champions Northampton welcome Saracens for their final home game of the season. For the home side, the focus of their attention is most definitely on the Champions Cup final next weekend after a terrific victory over Leinster two weeks ago in Dublin. Going into this penultimate round of the Premiership, Northampton, who have lost only two home matches in the Premiership since October 2023, sit in eighth and cannot make the play-offs. A much-changed Northampton lost 42-14 at Exeter last weekend, which ended a five-game winning run across all competitions. Despite the Champions Cup being the main focus, Northampton's director of rugby Phil Dowson still has stressed the importance of their final home game of the season. 'The connection in the group is so strong that we think occasions like playing at home for the last time are important. We think the last home game of the season for the fans is important,' Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton. 'We think that momentum and getting back to winning ways after a disappointing result is important and these are all motivational elements - all things we want to put out on the pitch on Saturday. 'They [Saracens] are gunning for the top four, [have] a tonne of very strong players, Lions. Loads and loads of quality across the board. I am sure they are frustrated like we are with the consistency of their performance but when they are on, they are an absolute handful. It will be a really good challenge and it is something we want to get our teeth into.' Saracens currently sit sixth and, after wins for Sale and Gloucester last night, know victory today is vital to their play-off hopes. They start the day four points off Bristol in fourth, knowing any type of win would elevate them into the top four going into the final round. They thrashed Newcastle 75-28 last time out and Mark McCall's side have lost just once in their last four. McCall knows the challenge facing his side this afternoon and wants to see his side show more consistency. 'It will be the first time their home fans will be able to see their team since that famous win against Leinster, which is an incredible achievement by them, so you know it is going to be a full house,' McCall said. 'You can imagine after the team they selected against Exeter their going to go as strong as they can against us, and their strongest team is a very good team. 'If you look at our season as a whole, we have won nine Premiership games and lost seven which indicates an inconsistent team. The way I look at it, we have played at a very high level at times but the gap between our best performance and worst performance is too big. That is the challenge, to become a really consistent team and narrow that gap. We have had 16 games before this to learn from, we know what our best is and will need to recreate that on Saturday [today].' Northampton have won their last four home matches against Saracens but in the reverse fixture just before Christmas, Saracens were the victors 39-24 at the StoneX Stadium. Kick-off at Franklin's Gardens is at 3.05pm.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aussies shine to set up European club rugby final duel
Australian rugby stars - including three former Wallabies now thriving overseas - have excelled in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup to set up a showdown in Europe's top club event. Pete Samu, the 33-time capped Wallaby, went over for a glorious early try as Union Bordeaux-Begles ended Toulouse's two-year unbeaten run in the tournament, brilliantly winning the all-French battle 35-18 victory at the Matmut Atlantique on Sunday to reach the final for the first time. In the final later this month, Bordeaux-Begles, also featuring ex-Australia lock Adam Coleman, will play English side Northampton, who were propelled to a famous, unexpected and rather epic 37-34 victory over Irish favourites Leinster in Dublin on Saturday. "What a try! What an opening!" 🎙️Pete Samu is first to score in this Semi-Final clash as he gives Bordeaux Bègles the lead 🟣#InvestecChampionsCup — Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) May 4, 2025 The 'Saints' emerged triumphant with five tries, including one from their popular Australian fullback James Ramm, while former Wallabies' back-rower Josh Kemeny shone and Angus Scott-Young came off the bench to help them become the first English finalists since Exeter won in 2020. The five Aussies will do battle in the final on May 24 in Cardiff's Principality Stadium as Northampton seek to end French Top 14 clubs' recent domination of the title. It won't be easy for Northampton with Bordeaux-Begles having looked mightily strong in kayoing the six-time champions with tries from Samu, Louis Bielle-Biarrey (2), Pierre Bochaton and Ben Tameifuna, while Matthieu Jalibert and Maxime Lucu impressed with valuable booted points. Toulouse, who'd been unbeaten since losing in the 2023 semi-finals to Leinster, responded with two tries from Dimitri Delibes and Pierre-Louis Barassi but were crucially weakened by the absence of the injured Antoine Dupont, Blair Kinghorn, Thomas Ramos and Peato Mauvaka. "They had a 10-minute spell of domination and we did not crack. We're so happy to qualify in front of our fans as we've been through very tough moments," said Jalibert, referring to Toulouse's 59-3 win against UBB in last season's Top 14 handling 🤩@SaintsRugby score through James Ramm to stretch their lead! 💪#PremRugby #InvestecChampionsCup — Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 3, 2025 The 33-year-old veteran Tasmanian lock Coleman, capped 38 times by Australia, is of Tongan descent and now playing his international rugby for the Pacific Island. He only lasted 28 minutes after failing a head injury assessment following his tackle on Julien Marchand. On Saturday, Sydneysider Ramm, the former Waratahs wing who played just once for Australia's under-20s but hasn't yet played played a senior international even though he's eligible for New Zealand, England and the Wallabies, was a stand-out at 15. Kemeny, who played at the last World Cup for the Wallabies, was also in fine form in the back row battle but did receive a late yellow for a high shot on Rabah Slimani that forced the Saints into an almighty backs-to-the-wall struggle to eke out their three-point win.
