Bordeaux-Begles ‘underdogs’ before Top 14 semis despite Champions Cup triumph

PARIS: Bordeaux-Begles may have won the Champions Cup last month but for prop Jefferson Poirot they remain “underdogs” for Saturday´s French Top 14 semi-final with Toulon.

Poirot´s side finished second in the league table at the end of the regular season having claimed their maiden major crown by powering past Northampton on May 24. They head to a sold-out Groupama Stadium in Lyon to face four-time French champions Toulon, who hammered Castres 52-23 in last weekend´s play-off.

“I think you have to forget it altogether,” former France captain Poirot told reporters on Monday. “It would be very dangerous to think that because we have the Champions Cup we´re owed something in the league.

“Right now in the Top 14 we´re still underdogs, we haven´t won anything. “We´re playing Toulon who have historically left their mark on the competition, unlike us,” he added. The 32-year-old Poirot will make his first appearance since the final victory over Saints after being handed a two-week suspension for his role in a post-match incident with the English club´s back-rower Henry Pollock.

“I was really scared of not being able to play,” Poirot said. “I would have had a lot of regrets if I wasn´t able to help the team in a moment like this one,” he added.

- ´Wasted a bullet´ -

Poirot is set to come up against good friend and former team-mate in Toulon scrum-half Baptiste Serin on Saturday. The pair used to share rooms on away trips before Serin headed to the French Riviera in 2019. The half-back´s opposite number will be the equally influential Maxime Lucu, who acts as Antoine Dupont´s stand-in with France.

“They are two important players for their teams,” Poirot said. “I think we have a little Lucu-dependance and they have a little Serin-dependance. “They control the game but not in the same way. “Max will get the team playing more, Baptiste will be a bit more of a catalyst,” he added.

In the other last-four tie, Toulouse play Bayonne who won every home game this season to secure fourth spot and a first-ever appearance in the Top 14 post-season play-offs. Toulouse, meanwhile, who last season clinched a third Champions Cup/Top 14 double, are looking to avoid just a second trophyless season since 2019.

The record 23-time French champions were knocked-out of this campaign´s Champions Cup in the semis by Poirot´s Bordeaux-Begles but ended top of the league table scoring a record 891 points.

“We wasted a bullet,” Toulouse scrum-half Paul Graou told newspaper La Depeche du Midi this week. “We have another title to defend,” he added. Graou has been Toulouse´s first-choice number nine since superstar Dupont suffered a serious knee injury in March.

“Antoine is an exceptional player,” Graou said with Dupont not expected to return before at least October. “We can´t wait to have him back but it´s up to us to take control and make sure the team plays as well as possible,” the 27-year-old added.

Fixtures (all times GMT)

Friday

Toulouse v Bayonne (1905)

Saturday

Bordeaux-Begles v Toulon (1905).