Bordeaux see off dogged Edinburgh
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Bordeaux-Begles’ blistering start to the first half was enough to get them past Edinburgh Rugby with a 23-14 win and clinch a spot in the semi-finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
The hosts started briskly and capitalised on their first-half advantage – meaning Edinburgh were once again eliminated from Europe at the last-eight stage, making this the fourth season running in which they have been knocked out at this point of continental competition.
Santiago Cordero and Jean-Baptiste Dubie put Bordeaux-Begles ahead with two tries in the first ten minutes, with Mathieu Jalibert converting both.
The visitors were caught completely unawares and struggled to regroup, with their only first-half response coming from the boot of Jaco van der Walt just after the half hour.
They used half-time wisely, with another van der Walt penalty and a smart piece of skill from Darcy Graham freeing Damien Hoyland to cross the line.
But the boot of Jalibert kept the home side in front.
Edinburgh had another glimmer of opportunity when Ben Tameifuna was sent to the sin-bin with ten minutes to go and Blair Kinghorn kicked the subsequent penalty from close range.
Then Bordeaux-Begles ended any late hopes when Edinburgh were penalised for offside in the last move of the match as Ben Botica kicked the three points to underline their place in the semi-finals, where they will face Bristol Bears on Friday night.
