Northampton vs BB

[Epaminondas Pules]

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs UNION BORDEAUX-BÈGLES
Investec Champions Cup – Final
Saturday 24 May 2025
Principality Stadium
Kick-off: 2.45pm

15 George Furbank
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Fraser Dingwall (c)
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 James Ramm
10 Fin Smith
9 Alex Mitchell

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon – 50th Saints appearance
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 Tom James
22 Tom Litchfield
23 Ollie Sleightholme

Not available for selection:
Juarno Augustus, Sam Graham, George Hendy, George Makepeace-Cubitt, Archie McParland, Burger Odendaal, Toby Thame, Charlie Savala, Robbie Smith and Tom West.

[Mikey Brown]

Pearson really must have fallen off. Not even on the unavailable list.

I hope Furbank and Seightholme are truly fit.

[Banquo]

v risky starting line up...

[FKAS]

Pearson really must have fallen off. Not even on the unavailable list.

I hope Furbank and Seightholme are truly fit.

Might not be risked if he's not 100% after returning from injury. Probably a traveling reserve. Given some of the names listed I wouldn't be surprised to see a late change or two.

I hope Furbank's arm is all sorted, that sounded uncomfortable.

[FKAS]

Union Bordeaux-Bègles: 15. Romain Buros; 14. Damian Penaud, 13. Nicolas Depoortere, 12. Yoram Moefana, 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey; 10. Matthieu Jalibert, 9. Maxime Lucu (c); 1. Jefferson Poirot, 2. Maxime Lamothe, 3. Sipili Falatea; 4. Adam Coleman, 5. Cyril Cazeaux; 6. Mahamadou Diaby, 7. Guido Petti, 8. Pete Samu.

Replacements: 16. Connor Sa, 17. Ugo Boniface, 18. Ben Tameifuna, 19. Pierre Bochaton, 20. Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21. Marko Gazzotti, 22. Arthur Retiere, 23. Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

[francoisfou]

Union Bordeaux-Bègles: 15. Romain Buros; 14. Damian Penaud, 13. Nicolas Depoortere, 12. Yoram Moefana, 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey; 10. Matthieu Jalibert, 9. Maxime Lucu (c); 1. Jefferson Poirot, 2. Maxime Lamothe, 3. Sipili Falatea; 4. Adam Coleman, 5. Cyril Cazeaux; 6. Mahamadou Diaby, 7. Guido Petti, 8. Pete Samu.

Replacements: 16. Connor Sa, 17. Ugo Boniface, 18. Ben Tameifuna, 19. Pierre Bochaton, 20. Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21. Marko Gazzotti, 22. Arthur Retiere, 23. Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

That’s an impressive back line, but if Northampton can knock Jalibert’s confidence by clattering him early in the game then they’re in with a chance. I assume that Arthur Retière (who scored the winning try for La Rochelle against Leinster in the 2022 final), who’s usually a winger, is the replacement scrum half, so Lucu needs clattering too!

[Adam_P]

Well that's better than i expected, even have Coles in. Interesting that Prowse is favoured on the bench ahead of Munga - he'll certainly add ballast to the scrum.

0730 train from Portsmouth to Cardiff in the morning - can't wait!

[Banquo]

Well that's better than i expected, even have Coles in. Interesting that Prowse is favoured on the bench ahead of Munga - he'll certainly add ballast to the scrum.

0730 train from Portsmouth to Cardiff in the morning - can't wait!

enjoy! Bit worried bout all of Langdon, Coles, Furbank and Sleightholme.

[Adam_P]

I am a little concerned too, but do have a bit of faith in the coaching team to make the right calls. Only other senior back 3 option really is Seabrook, who also appears to have had a knee niggle for the last few weeks. Think I'd rather risk an 80 - 90% Furbank or Sleightholme than chuck Glister in, as good as he's looked.

On Pearson - I'm told he had a leg brace on last weekend, so if he's not currently injured then he's only very recently recovered.

[Yorkie]

This game is being televised live on S4C HD (Sky 134).

[fivepointer]

Must be considered a slightly risky Saints selection. Fingers crossed they come through ok. Great match up in the backs.

[Danno]

Well that's better than i expected, even have Coles in. Interesting that Prowse is favoured on the bench ahead of Munga - he'll certainly add ballast to the scrum.

0730 train from Portsmouth to Cardiff in the morning - can't wait!

A fellow Pompeyan! Enjoy!

[Banquo]

Must be considered a slightly risky Saints selection. Fingers crossed they come through ok. Great match up in the backs.

I suppose the dice is worth rolling, assuming no long term player consequence. Furbank would be my worry, and be surprised if Coles will be fit to tour.

[Banquo]

Well that's better than i expected, even have Coles in. Interesting that Prowse is favoured on the bench ahead of Munga - he'll certainly add ballast to the scrum.

0730 train from Portsmouth to Cardiff in the morning - can't wait!

A fellow Pompeyan! Enjoy!

ah...that's what the P stands for

[Adam_P]

This game is being televised live on S4C HD (Sky 134).

Also streaming on YouTube

[Adam_P]

Well that's better than i expected, even have Coles in. Interesting that Prowse is favoured on the bench ahead of Munga - he'll certainly add ballast to the scrum.

0730 train from Portsmouth to Cardiff in the morning - can't wait!

A fellow Pompeyan! Enjoy!

ah...that's what the P stands for

Haha it's actually my initial, I'm not thoroughbred Pompey enough for that! Only moved here from Northampton in 2010

[Mellsblue]

Reckon this will be a belter. Gutted I can’t watch it but will record to watch later. This article gave me even more fomo:

Secrets of Saints’ Shoe Army? Break-ins at 1am
Alex Lowe shines spotlight on Saints’ form that takes inspiration from the Boston Red Sox


The fields are green The skies are blue, The River Nene goes winding through, The market square is cobbled stone, It shakes the old dears to the bone, No finer town you’ll ever see, No finer team there’ll ever be, Big city lights don’t bother me, Northampton Saints I’d rather be, Shoe army. Shoe army.

The Northampton Saints victory song has been performed in three of the most iconic stadiums over the past 12 months: at Twickenham to celebrate the Premiership title, at Loftus Versfeld after a landmark win against the Bulls and at the Aviva Stadium in the wake of a sensational Champions Cup semi-final victory over Leinster. Each result was a significant development step on Northampton’s road to the ultimate game: a return to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium for the European final against Bordeaux B gles.

Saints supporters need no reminder of this place. In the 2011 final, Northampton surrendered a 22-6 half-time lead and fell to a Leinster side inspired by Johnny Sexton. However, those worried about bad omens could equally point to this being the 25th anniversary of Saints defeating Munster at Twickenham to win their first major trophy in 120 years. There was not a victory song in those days, although the lads knew how to celebrate. The squad from 2000 enjoyed a silver anniversary reunion at Franklin’s Gardens this season.

Chris Boyd laid the foundations for so much of Northampton’s modern success during his tenure as director of rugby, bringing through a generation of academy players who provide the core of England’s back line: George Furbank, Alex Mitchell, Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall. He also told the players that every great team he had ever been a part of had their own unique way of marking a victory.

Alex Coles and Lewis Ludlam knocked around a few ideas but none of them stuck until Lee Daggett, the Saints physio and a former county cricketer, suggested the song he had sung while playing for Northamptonshire.

It was also synonymous with the town’s football team. With a minor tweak, Saints introduced it to their changing room after a win against Wasps in October 2022.

Saints were Premiership semi-finalists that season. Twelve months later, they were champions, with Coles, the England lock, leading a croaky rendition of Shoe Army at the end of a bus parade through the town. Coles took off his shoe, as is customary because the song ends with a chant to honour the town’s cobbling history. Sam Vesty, the Saints head coach, promptly threw it into the crowd.

The song has become a powerful bonding force between the players and their public. This is us, it says. All for one. Where else would you rather be but part of this community? “This whole club is built on the academy system,” Dingwall said. “Me and Furbs [Furbank] have known each other since we were 16 and 18. We lived together. There is that side of it. Plus this isn’t necessarily a town where there is loads to do. But what you do have are the people around you. That connection piece is around how much each team-mate means to each other.”

Clearly, Northampton are not alone in investing time and energy into building those relationships. But not every club has a Vesty who has been integral to creating a special alchemy at Saints.

He is a brilliant and driven attacking strategist who pushes his men towards higher and higher standards, while also being a source of relentless positive energy. Even at 1am in someone else’s bedroom.

“We are serious when we are serious but we absolutely have fun. And it is mandatory that we have fun. That is one of our absolute super strengths,” Vesty said.

“We play games every week. We did this thing called ‘Our House’. Do you remember Through The Keyhole? ‘Who lives in a house like this?’ “You could do whatever you wanted with it. Some people would show you around their house. Dingers had a key to Furbs’s house. We broke in at one o’clock in the morning. Dingers, Fin Smith and myself, filmed by Dingers’ girlfriend, went in and shocked him.

“Boom. We woke him up and he had to do this quiz. Fin came in and he had another challenge. I came in with my tennis balls and said, ‘Right, we are going to get better Furbs.’ “It has got to be fun. We spend a lot of time pratting around but that connection is key. And it’s not soft. That could sound quite laissez-faire but it’s not. I’m hard on some elements.”

Northampton’s inspiration for the back end of the season has been the journey of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, a team of big characters who forged a belief they could down the mighty Yankees, who had defeated them the previous year, and then win the World Series.

Leinster were Northampton’s Yankees. They had met in last year’s Champions Cup semi-final. Saints were a little too reverential perhaps, certainly too slow out of the blocks, leaving their fightback too late. Leinster won 20-17.

That experience was invaluable at Twickenham a few weeks later when Saints won the Premiership, despite not being at their best. The defence of their title has been a disappointment this season, not helped by injuries, but Saints have come to relish the big occasion.

Their attitude is epitomised by Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old, who is undaunted.

He sees everything as one great opportunity, which is an infectious characteristic.

Northampton’s 30-21 win against the Bulls at altitude in Pretoria in December was his breakthrough performance.

Then came a superb display in the semi-final against Leinster, when Saints got their revenge.

Next month, in an unprecedented rise, he will become a British & Irish Lion.

“The boys have had collective experiences of these pressures.

We can handle ourselves. We back ourselves,” Vesty said.

That much was evident at the Aviva Stadium with a performance that had Vesty’s watermark imprinted upon it. The connection was there. The determination to go at Leinster and to keep going.

There were shades of Northampton’s class of 2000 in their mentality.

The skill level was on another planet, though.

The Saints game plan neutered Leinster’s hungry blitz defence. It was, Vesty says, fairly simple — duh, just don’t run into their midfield kill zone — yet so effective that you wonder why no one else has succeeded in doing it.

But then not every club has a Vesty, or a halfback pairing of Mitchell and Smith with the skill to execute the plan.

“Tactics is giving really good players options at the line to make really good decisions,” Vesty said. “If you’ve got good decision-makers throughout the team that’s way more powerful than any move or coach-driven tactic.

“Imagine telling Lionel Messi how to pass. It’s just stupid. Alex Mitchell is that good. Why would I tell him? It’s Alex Mitchell making really good decisions at the line, Henry Pollock seeing space and backing himself, Fin Smith seeing space on the edge, calling for the ball and then executing his skills.”

Vesty’s outlook is very French. “They play with that joué mindset,” he said.

“They find the little spaces between two men. They encourage their forwards to play in these spaces.”

Phil Dowson, the Saints director of rugby, and Vesty have enjoyed analysing Bordeaux Bègles. Matthieu Jalibert was magical in their semi-final against Toulouse. There is no more dangerous pair of wings in the game than Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle-Biarrey. They are a side who thrive on turnover ball and unstructured rugby.

But Saints don’t mind a bit of that themselves. And after a week of fretting over injuries, they received an enormous boost on Friday when Furbank was cleared to make his first start since breaking his arm against the Bulls, while Coles, James Ramm and Curtis Langdon have all recovered from blows suffered against Saracens last weekend.

Ollie Sleightholme, the England wing who required ankle surgery after the Six Nations, is back on the bench.

Quite how fit they all are remains to be seen. But if not now, when? Their mindset will be right. The connections are strong. And Vesty has a plan.

The ball-in-play time in the Premiership is higher than in the Top 14. Saints will look to move the heavier French pack around more than they are used to. Bordeaux’s kick-chase is less organised than some, which could give some counterattacking opportunities.

Fundamentally, though, Saints will need to win the collisions, which is where they will miss Juarno Augustus and Tom Pearson.

“The one thing we want to avoid is to go passive into this final,” Vesty said.

“We know we are at our best when we are swinging. We’re going to win a game by being the best of Northampton Saints. There might be some fireworks.”

Allan Bateman, who played in the triumphant Saints team of 2000, sent a message of support to Vesty in the week. “We understand that this means so much to so many people,” Vesty said.

“This is very much a rugby town.”

There is a song about that. And it would be one of the greatest achievements by an English club in Europe if Saints were singing it in Cardiff tonight.
Northampton v Bordeaux
Today, 2.45pm Watch: Premier Sports and YouTube

[Adam_P]

Two injuries we did not need. Ramm potentially rushed back. Furbank unlucky as fuck

[Danno]

Two injuries we did not need. Ramm potentially rushed back. Furbank unlucky as fuck

Can't believe that wasn't looked at as reckless

[Captainhaircut]

Who is playing full back? Hutchinson?

Hard to see how Saints win this from here.

[Adam_P]

I'm live, but fuck me there some shit reffing here. That was not offside for Saints try from the kick through. And it was not a knock on for BB try from the scrum

[Captainhaircut]

I'm live, but fuck me there some shit reffing here. That was not offside for Saints try from the kick through. And it was not a knock on for BB try from the scrum

Why is he calling that offside live and not leaving it for the TMO?

Also, the lack of yellow for the knock in the 22 was a disgrace.

Saints need to stop kicking penalties though. They aren’t winning this game with 25 points- they need to be scoring tries.

[Adam_P]

BB backline look constant offside in defence too

[Adam_P]

I have aged about 10 years during that half

[Which Tyler]

Watching first half on fast forward.
How did Coles get that try down? Looked held up, then looked stripped, but regathered and dotted down!
Saints lucky that Bordeaux scored early, or they'd have seen yellow for not retreating the 10m.
Furbank is absolutely a rugby incident. He's on the floor, the onus is on him to stay down in that situation, but he had no real way of knowing that he was in that situation. You could argue dangerous play for both players, but only GF is "out of the game".
That knock-on by Fin when the ball goes 2m backwards...
Blue6 should have been a red card. Tackle was forceful, and with no attempt to wrap was always illegal, so no mitigation, so hit to head = red. Have the refs been instructed not to show red cards this weekend?
Pollock definitely was offside, but replay made it look way closer than real time. I prefer ref not to blow the whistle there, and let TMO sort it out once the footrace is won - whoever wins it.
Freeman - if you don't want to see yellow, don't commit to a blatant, cynical and potentially dangerous play.
Jalibert is having one of those games where he looks the best FH in the world.
Coles with a brace! How the hell is it all-level at HT?

Right, time to rejoin the wedding drinking (alcohol free )