Lucu helps Bordeaux brush aside Bath to set up final showdown with Leinster

Maxime Lucu scores a try which contributed to an overall points haul of 18. Photograph: Romain Perrocheau/AFP/Getty Images

Ben Spencer is so important to the way Bath operate and here was another prime example. With his side hammering away close to the line the scrum-half had the presence of mind to look up and deliver an inch perfect cross-field kick for Muir to gather and score wide on the left. Russell steered the conversion over via the right post and, just for a moment, the home support fell silent.

The noise swiftly cranked up again when Bielle-Biarrey, lurking out on the left, darted in for his 29th try in 27 games this season with nonchalant ease. On this occasion, though, Bath had their own lethal weapon out wide. Muir still had a lot to do following an electric midfield surge from Henry Arundell but finished magnificently, crashing through Lucu to score one-handed in the corner.

It was as good as it got for Bath for the rest of the first half. One little knock-on was all Bordeaux needed to start wresting back the initiative, first by cranking up the pressure with a scrum penalty and then by trusting their dagger-sharp half-backs. Lucu initially juggled an inside ball from a speeding Jalibert but kept the move going and reappeared to apply the coup de grace under the posts, despite Tom Dunn’s best efforts.

Behind 24-12 at the interval it was going to require something out of the ordinary to close the gap. Bath, though, started the second-half the stronger side, dragging Bordeaux through multiple close-range phases before, finally, the ball came right and the highly promising Louie Hennessey stretched over to score.

The question was whether Bath’s bench, with four forwards introduced en masse with 25 minutes left, could keep hammering away at the same intensity. Bordeaux had chances to put the game out of sight only for a couple of last-gasp fumbles to keep the visitors in it. But Bath were also struggling to keep their composure: first a promising lineout deep in opposition territory went astray before Ollie Lawrence collapsed a maul when Bath had looked set to win possession.

And then, to cap it all, came an agonising wait as the television match official pored over footage of what had originally appeared to be a match-clinching score for the reserve Bordeaux hooker Gaëtan Barlot. Eventually it was disallowed but, with Charlie Ewels in the sin-bin for collapsing the maul, Bordeaux soon scored their fourth try anyway through the famously big Ben Tameifuna. Tom Carr-Smith’s late try made no difference: the last English win in this tournament was in 2020 and the long wait continues.