January 14 in Bordeaux is a day to forget for Saracens and their fans, that was reminiscent of watching men against boys as Bordeaux scored 55 to Saracens 15. The crazy structure of this competition saw them back in Bordeaux for this wire takes all match. Saracens were without Owen Farrell and Bordeaux were missing Matthieu Jalibert.

An early knock on by Bordeaux saw the first scrum, it was re-set at the first and second effort, Billy Vunipola c came away at the third try, he kicked it straight into the arms of a Bordeaux player, Lucu then kicked the ball to touch, Saracens knocked on after the line out. Bordeaux very nearly scored a miraculous try after Saracens were distracted by a dummy runner in midfield allowing Lucu to run through, Bielle-Biarrey just about missed the in goal area with his touch down.

A clever kick over by Lucu saw Saracens in some trouble as Bordeaux drove over the ruck to win the ball back, their giant porp Tameifuna lost the ball as he went over the line, having had the ball on his own forearm as he went over. A lucky break for Saracens and lots of boo’s from the home crowd.

Saracens went for a short goal line drop out, which was a strange choice, one that a long kick from Ivan van Zyl, a return from Garcia and an off-side Coleman saw Saracens in the Bordeaux half for the first time. Jamie George was penalised for diving over the top, giving Bordeaux a line out back in the Saracens half.

With 30K Bordeaux fans celebrating a try after Bielle-Biarrey had side stepped Daly, the cheers turned to boo’s as the play was pulled back for a forward pass, they do love a good boo a French crowd! Mako Vunipola was penalised in the scrum. Saracens pulled the maul into touch after the line out.

Alex Lewington put in a great 50/22 kick to give Saracens some good territory, a chip through by Goode just went too far for Lewington. The Bordeaux forwards had been immense in their rucking to this point, there’s been a greater physicality in French rugby in recent years. Saracens conceded a penalty in mid-field after Lamothe got over the ball.

Buros called the mark after van Zyl had kicked on too far, his kick to touch was poor, but Saracens were then penalised and walked 10 metres after Christian Judge said the wrong thing. That, has been a problem for Saracens at times in recent years.

Louis Bielle-Biarrey had oodles of space out on his wing as the ball came across to him, Buros had run in the middle of the field and taken out 2 Saracens defenders so horror of all horrors for the home fans, no try! But Bordeaux had another go as they had a penalty in their pockets. Bordeaux knocked on after a massive tackle by Mako V.

Billy V came away from the base of the scrum before Elliot Daly kicked to touch. Saracens were penalised for being offside as Bordeaux attacked from the line out. Lucu gave the Saracens defence a break and kicked the first points of the match on 29 minutes.

We had a bizarre moment when Depoortere blatantly hit the ball ahead and then ran in to score. No try, of course, and amazingly no boo’s this time! Daly passed forward to Lewington as play progressed from the scrum. Judge was penalised for collapsing in the scrum. Maro Itoje was penalised for a deliberate knock on, plenty of boo’s for no card, and of course lots of replays which caused the referee to look again which then did see a yellow card shown to Itoje.

Theo McFarland took the ball from the line out but the knocked on as it came back to him giving the ball back to Bordeaux, they moved the ball quickly and Garcia scored with little in the way of a defensive effort. Lucu kicked an excellent conversion to take Bordeaux to 10.

The ball was knocked on from the kick off, the scrum initially re-set, then the ball spun away by Bordeaux, Saracens were then penalised at the breakdown. Damien Penaud had been excellent in the first half, but his kick through after 4th Eline out was taken easily into touch by van Zyl. The score was Bordeaux 10 Saracens 0 at half-time. A flattering score line for the visitors.

amine Nick Tompkins won Saracens a penalty early uin the second half with a Daly kick getting Saracens into the Bordeaux half, Bordeaux then gave away another penalty as Saracens attacked. Goode took the posts option and hit them keeping Saracens on nil.

We had a daft stop as the Bordeaux players stood still in front of Garcia who’d kicked the ball towards Goode, Goode stood and watched eventually kicking the ball ahead, the ultimate result being a Saracens knock on. It looked like Mako V had knocked the ball on but the referee was right by the ball, the TV director had a go at showing it again but it was clear he’d missed the ball. Playing with a penalty advantage Bordeaux got the ball out to Tatafu out on the win, the big Number 8 got the ball back into play, it hit Ben Earl on his knee before landing weeks for Garcia who scored his second! Lucu added the extras to take Bordeaux to 17.

McFarland won the ball from the kick off but Itoje knocked on after a poor pass from van Zyl. Theo Dan made an early appearance on 50 minutes, in fact the whole front row changed and Juan Martin Gonzalez replaced Hugh Tizzard putting McFarland into the 2nd row.

There was an exchange of kicks until Goode finally put the ball into touch, never an entertaining phase of play. Saracens had a line out deep in the Bordeaux half after the new Scrum half Gareth Simpson was ‘played’ in a ruck. A lovely floated pass to Lewington from Goode went to the ground, he had a clear run in front of him, but a scrum it was.

Damien Penaud went through several Saracens players before Daly knocked on in the tackle, Daly took a boot to the head for his troubles, but remarkably stayed on. Tom Willis came on to replace Billy V.

Bordeaux scored their try of the game from the scrum, playing with a penalty ion their pocket Penaud had a key role in what looked like a training ground try, his pass to Depoortere saw an easy run in for the Centre. The conversion took it to 24 nil.

A loose pass from Goode saw Bielle-Biarrey score an easy try, the ball bounced perfectly for him as he hacked it ahead, but he was not going to be stopped. 31 nil after 64 minutes.

Garcia put in a perfect kick after a Goode kick through went wrong, Maitland was forced to kick the ball out with a bad angle giving Bordeaux a line out in a great spot, a penalty mad that an even better position, they took a quick tap and the ball went across the line to Depoortere who had an easy run in, another lovely try, That made it 4 in the second half at 67 minutes. And 38 Nil.

Saracens at least got a try on 71 minutes, after Goode took a quick tap penalty, no idea why the home crowd felt the need to boo, but, hey ho. They of course cheered when the conversion went wide. This was a score for pride with just 8 minutes remaining.

Saracens wre given a long advantage and Manu V Vunipola on for Daly kicked to touch. They lost the ball and the crowd were treated to a lovely try for Bielle-Biarrey to take Bordeaux to 43. The prospect of a Bordeaux v Harlequins Quarter Final had been the reality for a while in this game and it should be a mouth watering match. The conversion took the score over the 2 matches to 100 for Bordeaux, a stat to forget for Saracens and their fans.

To their credit Saracens, well beaten, kept on playing and scored through Tom Willis after. aline out close to the Bordeaux line, that gave the travelling fans something to cheer. Many of them had been present for all 100 of those Bordeaux points. The whistle went with the score on Bordeaux 45 Saracens 12