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Vintage Bordeaux strike late to beat Ulster in Champions Cup

rugby14 December 2024 20:24| © AFP
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French side Bordeaux-Begles made it two straight wins in the Champions Cup with a 40-19 victory over Irish province Ulster on Saturday to top the powerful Pool 1, with Leicester climbing to second by thrashing the Sharks 56-17

English champions Northampton stunned South African franchise Bulls in Pretoria 30-21 in Pool 3 and Leinster eked out a 15-7 home win over Clermont for a second straight victory to top Pool 2.

Bordeaux-Begles, who thrashed Leicester last week, gained another as they handed Ulster, the 1999 champions, a second beating in successive weeks from French opposition, following a mauling in Toulouse.

At Ravenhill, Japanese international No 8 Tevita Tatafu crashed over after two minutes for the visitors with former Ireland fly-half Joey Carbery adding the conversion.

Ulster hit back with tries for Cormac Izuchukwu, Nick Timoney and Werner Kok to lead 19-14 at the break. The visitors finally broke down the walls in the final quarter, running in four tries to close out the victory.

French wings Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, lock Guido Petti and Ugo Boniface dotted down as the second half that went 26-0 in the French side's favour.

"We put a huge effort in first half and we ran out of steam a wee bit," said Ulster assistant coach Dan Soper.

"They had a lot of power come off their bench in the last quarter and we weren't able to handle that."

While Leicester suffered a beating in the first round, the Durban-based Sharks had won comfortably at home against another English club Exeter.

But the South Africans, who face the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship next weekend, brought a depleted squad to the wintry English Midlands, leaving, notably, Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi at home.

Julian Montoya gave the hosts a ninth minute lead. Manu Tshituka replied for the visitors after 20 minutes but the Tigers then scored four more tries in 15 minutes – through Montoya, Ollie Haskell-Collins, Solomone Katato and Handre Pollard – to secure a bonus point before halftime.

'SOAKING UP THE SUN'

After the break with Jack van Poortvliet, Charlie Clare and, with final move of the game, Emeke Ilione all scored for Leicester. Ethan Hooker, who plays centre, replied for the Sharks. Leicester converted all eight tries and South African Pollard finished with 20 points.

"There were patches where we played very well and at times we got a bit loose. It's a great win but there's always stuff we can do better," Pollard told broadcaster Premier Sports.

He added that he had spoken to fellow Springboks in the Sharks squad who had not made the trip.

"I had a big chat to the boys early in the week, they're soaking up the sun, getting ready for a big derby next week."

In Dublin, Alivereti Raka gave Clermont a fourth minute lead, but Garry Ringrose and Jordie Barrett replied with two tries in four minutes midway through the half for Leinster. That ended the scoring, apart from a solitary 48th minute penalty by Sam Prendegast

Northampton pulled off a remarkable bonus-point victory as they beat Bulls 30-21 at Loftus Versfeld where the 30C heat was in stark contrast to conditions in England.

Saints, who hammered Castres in their opening match last week, were second best in possession and territory, with 70 per cent of the match played in their half.

However, they counter-punched superbly to run in four tries in this Pool 3 encounter, two of them by wing Tommy Freeman.

Northampton have a maximum 10 points from their opening two games while Bulls have lost twice to English opposition after stumbling at Saracens a week ago.

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