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Louis Bielle-Biarrey stars as Bordeaux reach maiden Champions Cup final

Bordeaux's Louis Bielle-Biarrey acrobatically touches down for a try against Toulouse
Bordeaux's Louis Bielle-Biarrey acrobatically touches down for a try against Toulouse

Louis Bielle-Biarrey's stunning try highlighted Bordeaux’s 35-18 win over Top 14 rivals Toulouse as they set up a Champions Cup final meeting with Leinster's conquerors Northampton.

Bordeaux had raced into a 10-0 lead with a try from Pete Samu and a Matthieu Jalibert penalty, but Toulouse edged 11-10 up with a pair of Juan Cruz Mallia penalties either side of Dimitri Delibes’ try.

But Bielle-Biarrey then lit up the Matmut Atlantique with a moment of brilliance, somersaulting his way over the line after Romain Buros had burst through the Toulouse defence.

When the 21-year-old France wing scored a second just 19 seconds into the second half, Jalibert converted for a 25-11 lead but Pierre-Louis Barassi capitalised on a visit to the sin bin for Marko Gazzotti to pull one back for Toulouse and inject some nerves into the finale.

Pierre Bochaton powered over for a fourth Bordeaux try in the 64th minute and Ben Tameifuna added a late fifth to put Bordeaux into their first Champions Cup final, to be played in Cardiff on 24 May.

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