Toulouse beat spirited Bordeaux and head to Champions Cup Final

Toulouse marched on to the Champions Cup Final after grinding out a 21-9 home win over fellow French side Bordeaux in the semi-finals.

Matthieu Jalibert opened the scoring for Bordeaux with a penalty just three minutes in, but Toulouse hit back almost immediately, with a cut out pass being quickly tapped on by Maxime Medard as the hosts unleashed Matthis Lebel down the left to fly over in the corner for the opening try, putting Toulouse up 5-3. Jalibert missed a penalty attempt but was successful midway through the first half to edge Bordeaux ahead 6-5. Cameron Woki picked up a yellow card for a deliberate knock down 25 minutes in, but Toulouse failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage.

Romain Ntamack booted Toulouse back in front with a late first half penalty making it 8-6 at the halftime break. Another Ntamack penalty five minutes into the second half gave Toulouse some breathing room, up 11-6. The arm wrestle continued for the next twenty minutes, with neither side able to gain much ascendancy before another Ntamack penalty made it a two score ball game with around 15 minutes remaining. Shortly after, Jalibert was successful off the tee to reduce the deficit back to five points. Toulouse sealed victory, with Antoine Dupont racing in for a try after 72 minutes after some superb offloads and support play as they booked their spot in the Final, where they will face the winner of Leinster v La Rochelle.