Saints bid to return to knockout stage for a second consecutive season

Franklin’s Gardens is the venue for the first Champions Cup match of the season as Northampton Saints bid to return to the knockout stage for a second consecutive season. They will take on a Bordeaux-Begles side who were defeated in the Challenge Cup semi-finals last season, losing out in extra time to eventual winners Bristol Bears.

The 2020/21 competition will be Bordeaux-Bègles’ third appearance in the European top-flight. Their previous two campaigns both ended at the pool stage in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

Match Facts

- This will be the first meeting between Northampton and Bordeaux in the Heineken Champions Cup, they did clash in the 1997/98 Challenge Cup however, both sides winning their home games in those pool stage matches.

- Northampton have won nine of their last 11 home games against TOP 14 opposition in the Heineken Champions Cup (D1, L1).

- Bordeaux’s only previous Heineken Champions Cup games in England both came against Exeter Chiefs (2015/16 and 2016/17), they lost the first of those games but won the most recent.

- Northampton Saints beat 30 defenders per game on average in the Heineken Champions Cup last season, more than any other team, choosing to kick from hand less often than any other club too (16.3 per game).

- Santiago Cordero (Bordeaux-Bègles) beat 29 defenders in his six Challenge Cup appearances last season, more than any other player.

What the Coaches Say

Chris Boyd (Northampton): “Maybe Europe’s come at the right time. We get a fresh start against Bordeaux at home this week in front of some fans, which will be really nice. We’ve got a very tough pool with Leinster and Bordeaux who are good sides from the Pro14 and the Top14 but we’ll throw ourselves into that first game and see what happens.”

Christophe Urios (Bordeaux-Begles): “We’re very aware that Champions Cup matches are on another level to Challenge Cup matches. We also know that the pace is different from our Top 14. It’ll probably be a much-anticipated match, and a high-intensity, fast-paced one. We experienced that last year in Bristol and even at home against Edinburgh, too. So we’re really going to need to go into this competition in a different frame of mind.”

Line Ups