Bath narrowly missed out on the Champions Cup final after a star-studded Bordeaux side beat the English champions 38-26; Dragons also fell at the last Challenge Cup hurdle with a loss to Montpellier
Last Updated: 03/05/26 5:50pm
Bordeaux players celebrate after winning the Champions Cup semi-final against Bath
Bath came up against an inspired Bordeaux as their Investec Champions Cup campaign ended in a 38-26 semi-final defeat at Stade Atlantique Bordeaux Metropole.
The English champions were chasing Bordeaux from the moment they leaked an early try, with their opponents showing a ruthless streak when converting their chances.
Wing Will Muir scored two tries, one of them a sublime finish, and Louie Hennessey added a third to keep the game alive in the final quarter, but they made too many mistakes.
Bordeaux were worthy winners and they advance to the final in Bilbao on May 23 when they will look to retain their title.
Kick-off was delayed by 10 minutes to allow fans to get into the stadium and Bath appeared to be caught cold when their line was breached after just 110 seconds, their lack of outside defence exploited through Damian Penaud before Marko Gazzotti arrived to crash over.
England scrum-half Ben Spencer was at the heart of the response as he delivered kicks to each wing, the second picking out Muir who was presented with a simple run in.
Bath were exposed out wide again as Louis Bielle-Biarrey struck in the left corner but it was a line-out drive a phase earlier that had really softened up the defence.
Alfie Barbeary was prominent as Bath pounded the home whitewash but when they scored their second try it was through the handling of their backs and a clever run by Henry Arundell followed by a superb diving finish by Muir.
There was no sign of the breathless pace letting up as lethal Bordeaux struck again with Maxime Lucu the scorer after the ball had been kept alive brilliantly as Bath ran out of defenders.
The final act of the first half was Lucu landing a penalty to establish a 24-12 lead and Bath were in danger of being cut adrift, but Hennessey struck back for Bath as he side-stepped over, ignoring the overlap outside him.
Charlie Ewels was shown a yellow card for pulling down the maul and Bath finally cracked when giant prop Ben Tameifuna surged over in the 69th minute before Temo Matiu and Tom Carr-Smith exchanged late tries.
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“We are gutted,” fly-half Finn Russell said. “We went behind, fought ourselves back, and didn’t take our chances. And gave them soft entries into our 22 … at this level, you give soft penalties away and make silly mistakes, you get punished.
“We’ll be better for this. there is a lot of frustration and disappointment. But when we come back in tomorrow we’ll look at it, and how we get ready for Exeter next weekend.”
Dragons fall just short of upset win in Challenge Cup
The Dragons went down fighting as their dream of reaching the Challenge Cup final ended with an 18-12 defeat by Montpellier.
Top 14 title challengers Montpellier will face Ulster in the competition’s showpiece in Bilbao on May 22, but they were left clinging on in the closing stages of their semi-final at Septeo Stadium.
Aneurin Owen claimed his second try in the 73rd minute to leave the Dragons, who are positioned third from bottom in the United Rugby Championship, a converted try away from springing a dramatic upset.
But their fightback stopped short of delivering the decisive score despite a late series of attacks.
