All-French affair as Racing 92 tackle Bordeaux

The first of two all-French battles will take the form of Bordeaux hosting Racing 92 at Stade Chaban-Delmas.

Both sides had good wins last weekend; Bordeaux with a strong showing over Bristol Bears while Racing blitzed Edinburgh off the park.

Bristol drew first blood through a beautiful try from winger Henry Purdy and looked to be in fine form during the first stanza but Bordeaux stuck to their guns and gained more and more momentum as the minutes ticked by. Despite being shown two yellow cards in the final quarter, Bordeaux continued their assault, eventually racking up 36 points to Bristol’s total of 17.

The game in Paris was competitive for the first 25 minutes before Racing began to crack the whip. At the break, the score read 20-3 to the home side and things progressed badly for Edinburgh. Racing really turned the screws in the final quarter, taking the score to 56-3.

Match facts:

This will be the first meeting between Bordeaux-Bègles and Racing 92 in European competition.

Bordeaux-Bègles have won their last four games in the Heineken Champions Cup, their best run in the competition; they have scored 35+ points in each of their last two games, as often as in their first 21 matches in the competition.

Bordeaux-Bègles have lost five of their six games played against a fellow TOP 14 team in the Heineken Champions Cup (W1), including all three home games.

Racing 92 have won seven of their last 10 away games in the Heineken Champions Cup (D1 L2), one more win than in their first 23 away games in the competition (W6 D3 L14).

Racing 92 recorded their biggest win in the Heineken Champions Cup during the last round against Edinburgh (56-3); they have won their last two games with a 40+ point margin after seeing a single-digit margin in their previous five games (W3 L2).

Racing 92 have scored more points (131) and tries (18) than any other team in the Heineken Champions Cup this season; individually Simon Zebo (Racing) needs one more try to draw level with Brian O’Driscoll on 33 Champions Cup tries, the third most of anyone in the competition.

Santiago Cordero (Bordeaux) is the joint top try scorer (4) in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, whilst team mate Matthieu Jalibert is the top points scorer (39).

Baptiste Chouzenoux (Racing) has made 28/28 tackles in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, the most of any player who is yet to miss one and whose team has reached the quarter-finals.

Bordeaux duo Matthieu Jalibert and Romain Buros have made more offloads than anyone else in the Heineken Champions Cup this season (six each), collectively, only Racing (34) have made more offloads than Bordeaux (32) this season.

Racing’s Kurtley Beale has gained more metres (285) than anyone else in the Heineken Champions Cup this season, he’s also made more breaks (11) than anyone else.