Connacht's Investec Champions Cup campaign got off to a disastrous start as they fell to a 41-5 defeat to Bordeaux-Begles and lost Mack Hansen to injury.
Yannick Bru’s men scored six tries at the Sportsground and Connacht never got to grips with the pace of the visitors in attack and their tenacity in defence.
The loss of Hansen to an ankle injury in the 22nd minute, with the hosts trailing by just two points, may have seemed like a turning point but, in truth, Bordeaux were on top for almost all of this game, played in relatively benign conditions after a wet and windy day in Galway.
They led 12-5 at the break and a two-try salvo in the opening 14 minutes of the second half killed off any lingering hope of a result in the opening Pool 1 tie.
Pete Wilkins' side have now lost three in a row after winning their opening three games of the season.
There can often be questions about how French teams travel but Bordeaux had a clear answer: with intent.
After soaking up an early spell of pressure inside their own half - where Hansen, Bundee Aki and Cian Prendergast asked questions of the visitors' defence - they needed no encouragement to run the ball.
When Dave Heffernan's throw went astray close to the Bordeaux line, the ball was quickly moved wide and within moments they had the lead.
A quick ruck in midfield allowed Nicolas Depoortere to run at pace and his switch with Tevita Tatafu opened up the Connacht defence, the number 8 popped to full-back Romain Buros to run in unopposed with France scrum-half Maxime Lucu adding the extras.
While the lineout was a mess, the hosts' scrum was much better and they drew a number of penalties in the opening quarter.
One of these allowed JJ Hanrahan to kick to the corner and from there a maul edged towards the line before Shamus Hurley-Langton broke off to score in the 16th minute.
Connacht then lost Hansen to an ankle injury, the Ireland wing pulling up sharply after cleaning up a loose ball. The 25-year-old hobbled off and was replaced by John Porch.
Playing against a significant breeze, Bordeaux kept the ball in hand and came looking for soft shoulders, more often than not finding them.
It was from one such foray that the visitors grabbed their second. Depoortere, Pierre Bochaton and Thomas Jolmes broke through and the ball went wide to Tatafu, who fed it inside to Damian Penaud to finish in the 25th minute.
The URC outfit had a chance to reply soon after but Hanrahan overcooked a penalty and the ball went dead.
The French wanted more before half-time.
Penaud probed and cut inside, and Connacht were only saved by Prendergast's jackal penalty, and then Darragh Murray's pressure at a close-range line out led to a knock on.
The hosts survived until the break just 12-5 down.
Wilkins replaced props Denis Buckley and Finlay Bealham with Peter Dooley and Jack Aungier at the break but Bordeaux struck first.
Lucu sniped off a ruck, had Buros and Pablo Uberti in support and the winger touched down for another converted try.
Then Connacht got a foothold close to the line thanks to a penalty and a forward pass by Matthieu Jalibert but poor handling let Bordeaux escape.
And they soon made the Westerners pay, too easily breaking tackles and Lucu was stopped just short before the ball came to Penaud who fed Buros to dot down under no pressure for the bonus-point try.
Aki, on his first outing since the World Cup, and wing Andrew Smith were game but much of the ball that came to them was on the back foot and the momentum had swung firmly in Bordeaux's favour.
A high tackle handed Bordeaux another chance to turn the screw and Jalibert was not impressed when the instruction to kick at goal came from the sideline.
The bonus point secured, Lucu’s three made it a 22-point lead with 15 minutes to play and the Top14 side weren’t finished there.
They added a penalty try two minutes later when a Connacht scrum disintegrated close to the line and the crowd began to thin out at the Galway venue.
Uberti grabbed his second late on to complete a miserable night for Connacht, giving a small but vocal away support among the 6,024 attendance even more to cheer about.
Next up for Connacht is an away date with Saracens on Saturday week. Wilkins has work to do.
Connacht: Mack Hansen; Byron Ralston, Cathal Forde, Bundee Aki, Andrew Smith; JJ Hanrahan, Caolin Blade; Denis Buckley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham; Darragh Murray, Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast, Shamus Hurley-Langton, Seán Jansen.
Replacements: Tadhg McElroy, Peter Dooley, Jack Aungier, Niall Murray, Conor Oliver, Michael McDonald, David Hawkshaw, John Porch.
Bordeaux-Begles: Romain Buros; Damian Penaud, Nicolas Depoortere, Ben Tapuai, Pablo Uberti; Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu; Ugo Boniface, Clement Maynadier, Sipili Falatea; Guido Petti, Thomas Jolmes; Pierre Bochaton, Pete Samu, Tevita Tatafu.
Replacements: Maxime Lamothe, Ben Tameifuna, Carlu Sadie, Alexandre Ricard, Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, Antoine Miguel, Paul Abadie, Nans Ducuing.
Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng)
Elsewhere, Tommy Freeman scored a brace of tries as Northampton opened their Champions Cup campaign with a three-try 28-19 victory away to Glasgow.
The Scots had only been beaten once at home in the previous two years but were distinctly second best here as their Premiership visitors recovered from falling behind early on to land a deserved win.
Sebastian Cancelliere had opened the scoring for the hosts early on before Courtney Lawes responded for the visitors and Freeman touched down twice before the break.
Glasgow also ended up with three tries of their own following a second-half effort from Ollie Smith and a penalty try, making Saints' superior kicking the difference between the teams.
