English rugby’s interest in Europe came to an end with Bath valiant in defeat to holders Bordeaux, but there was anger from onlookers that the PREM champions did not get the rub of the green.
Holders UBB outscored the West Country outfit by five tries to four in a semi-final in which they never trailed. There is no question that they were the better of the two sides.
They played with greater fizz, better cohesion, more power, ruthlessness and sharper execution in the key moments before a partisan home crowd and deserve to advance to Bilbao for the May 23 final against Leinster.
In captain Maxine Lucu, they had the player of the match, the shaven-headed scrum-half dictating tempo and scoring 18 points. In Ben Tameifuna, a one-man bomb squad who snuffed out Bath’s hopes in the final quarter. In Matthieu Jalibert, a player you’d gladly pay to watch every week.
A side lacking patience
Johann van Graan’s side will be frustrated at themselves for lacking composure and patience in key moments; in particular, a lineout they overthrew just past the hour mark when in position to take the lead.
On such small moments, matches at this level turn. Which brings us neatly to the rub of the green the Blue, Black and Whites were denied.
Bath are entitled to wonder what was going on with some of the officiating. In a game of such tight margins they looked to be treated extremely harshly by a combination of referee, TMO and French TV director.
On 24 minutes, defending a one-score lead, Alfie Barbeary appeared to be caught head-on-head by Adam Coleman. No action was taken against the home lock.
A minute into the second half, Barbeary again took one to the nut, this time Lucu, the offender. Again, no TV replays from the French director, no intervention by TMO Ben Whitehouse.
Bordeaux had been on a final warning from referee Nike Amashukeli since the 24th minute. Yet when they next offended in their own 22, nine minutes after half-time, no action was taken.
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“It’s becoming a bit of a joke”
Referring to the lack of replays for moments of controversy involving the home side, former England fly-half Andy Goode told Premier Sports: “It’s becoming a bit of a joke with French [TV] directors.
“[Johann] didn’t mention it [but] some of the refereeing calls, without the TMO coming in, some of the high shots that were missed because of TV directors, it’s just not good enough.
“I’m getting messages galore going ‘Why aren’t you showing these replays?’ French TV directors, it’s not us that are choosing the replays. It’s the French guys.
“Not only have they [Bath] got themselves to look at with the small margin errors, the line-out and the other bits and pieces, but also they didn’t get the rub of the green either with all that.”
One viewer took to social media to say: “It’s less about the TMO, it’s more the TV companies.
“If anything, [tournament organisers] EPCR need to have an independent production company to have these replays separate from broadcasters so they can have all the angles.”
Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England captain, agreed Bath “can feel hard done by”, but added: “When playing away from home in Europe, you’ve got to ride those decisions. You’ve got to have enough in the tank.”
Unforced errors prove costly
Ultimately, Bath did not. In many ways, they were heroic. Will Muir scored two wonderful tries before his afternoon was cruelly cut short by injury; the first fielding a pinpoint cross kick from Ben Spencer, the second finishing in zero space with a spectacular dive after Henry Arundell’s pace created the chance.
Thomas du Toit put in a terrific 73-minute shift at the coal face to subdue a Bordeaux scrum missing the absent Jefferson Poirot. Louie Hennessy, in at centre because of injury to both Max Ojomoh and Cam Redpath, grabbed his opportunity and scored a fine try.
But these efforts were undone by errors, often unforced. From Barbeary dropping the opening kickoff to lineout overthrows and spilled passes, Bath were never good enough for long enough to put serious doubt into Bordeaux minds.
“There’s a lot of frustration, a lot of disappointment just now,” Finn Russell admitted afterwards. “It’s amazing what we’ve achieved in a short space of time [as a club], but you can never be happy with that.
“You can never look back at last season and find you are still the champions now. You’ve got to win it all again this year. It was obviously amazing to get to the semi-final but we’re gutted to get knocked out tonight.”