John Fallon reports from The Sportsground
A SOBERING NIGHT in the storm at The Sportsground for Connacht on their return to the Champions Cup as Bordeaux-Bègles dished out a lesson in the finer arts of the game.
The French were on top in just about every sector despite Connacht having their three World Cup players back for the first time this season — and the night began to become bleak for the hosts when Mack Hansen limped off midway through the opening half in front of a crowd of 6,024.
A six-tries-to-one defeat at home on the opening weekend of the Champions Cup leaves little room for dispute and Pete Wilkins and his coaching team now face a huge task to get them ready for a trip to Saracens next weekend.
Bordeaux-Bègles, no strangers to The Sportsground having been here in 2018, opted to play against the wind and rain in the opening but while Connacht, with Bundee Aki back for his first action since the World Cup, penned them back in the early stages, they were unable to make them pay.
Two penalties to the left corner in the opening eight minutes failed to yield a score. Hooker Dave Heffernan was held up on the first assault and there was a crooked throw on the second one.
It got worse then for Connacht when Bordeaux-Bègles broke and the intensity of their pace in attack cut through the home defence when Japanese international Tevita Tatafu took an inside pass from former Wallaby Ben Tapuai before fullback Romain Buros raced in to score under the posts. His skipper Maxime Lucu tapped over the conversion for 7-0 after ten minutes.
Connacht hit back and when they went with a scrum penalty to the right corner, they got the set-piece right this time. Darragh Murray collected Heffernan’s throw to the front, they got the drive before flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton peeled away for a good try to cut the gap at 18 minutes.
That got the crowd roaring again but the groans were audible all over the stadium when Hansen, who was playing superbly, limped out of a tackle and with to ground holding an already heavily bandaged right foot. That ended his night and it remains to be seen how long he will be out.
John Porch came on to replace him for his first action of the season but it was Bordeaux-Bègles who struck again with another flowing move as Connacht struggled to deal with their rapid linespeed.
Once more Tatafu was involved twice, delivering the final pass out wide on the left for French winger Damian Penaud to score his eighth try in his fifth game for Bordeaux-Bègles since his summer move from Clermont Auvergne.
Hanrahan went for maximum distance from a penalty on the 10-metre line but it went dead, while it took a superb turnover from the impressive Cian Prendergast to bring another Penaud onslaught to an end.
Bordeaux-Bègles also messed up a penalty to the right corner after Connacht had again failed to make count down the left and the hosts went in trailing by 12-5 at the interval.
It took less than three minutes for Bordeaux to strike after the restart. Scrum-half Lucu had fullback Buros on his shoulder and the latter put winger Pablo Uberti through to score another converted try. Bordeaux led 19-5.
Connacht countered with two penalties to the left corner. They kept the first in tight but were held up. They went wide with the second and several phases later, with an advantage, Hurley-Langton knocked on in the tackle as he went over.
They tapped the penalty and looked set to go over after a switch pass but Seán Jansen spilled. Within 60 seconds, Bordeaux were over for their fourth try to get the bonus after another flowing move. Buros finished in the left corner after 54 minutes, much to the delight of the couple of hundred fans who travelled from France.
Their fifth was a penalty after they piled on from a five-metre scrum to make it 34-5 after 67 minutes and they completed the rout when Uberti got over for his second try two minutes from the end. Replacement scrum-half Nans Ducuing nonchantantly stroked over the conversion from the left touchline, negotiating the strong wind with the aplomb Bordeaux-Bègles had shown all night.
Scorers: Connacht: Try: Hurley-Langton.
Bordeaux-Bègles: Buros (2), Uberti (2), Penaud, penalty try. Cons: Lucu (2 from 4), Ducuing (1 from 1). Pen: Lucu (1 from 1).
CONNACHT: Mack Hansen (John Porch ’22); Byron Ralston, Cathal Forde (David Hawkshaw ’60), Bundee Aki, Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade (capt) (Michael McDonald ’65); Denis Buckley (Peter Dooley ‘half-time), Dave Heffernan (Tadhg McElroy ’60), Finlay Bealham (Jack Aungeri ‘half-time; Darragh Murray (Niall Murray ’60), Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Seán Jansen (Conor Oliver ’54).
BORDEAUX: Romain Buros; Damian Penaud, Nicolas Depoortere, Ben Tapuai, Pablo Uberti; Matthieu Jalibert (Nans Ducuing ’72), Maxime Lucu (capt) (Paul Abadie ’66); Ugo Boniface (Ben Tameifuna ’51), Clément Maynadier (Maxime Lamothe ’48), Sipili Falatea (Carlu Sadie ’60) ; Guido Petti (Antoine Miquel ’60), Thomas Jolmes; Pierre Bochaton (Alexandre Richard ’72), Pete Samu (Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer ’48), Tevita Tatafu.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England).
Written by John Fallon and posted on the42.ie
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