Harlequins edge out Bordeaux in thriller to reach Champions Cup semi-final

There are some daunting venues in Europe but none more formidable this season than this atmospheric and character-laden old stadium. Factor in temperatures nudging 30C, and the chances of Harlequins enjoying a vintage quarter-final weekend in Bordeaux were supposedly on a par with a local sommelier returning from the cellar with a bottle of Chateau Twickenham.

So much for the theory, with Quins now able to toast the club’s first Champions Cup semi-final as reward for clinching one of the all-time great knockout contests. Rugby union does not come much more gloriously watchable, with two tries from the scrum-half Will Porter and a lion-hearted collective effort seeing off a home side who racked up 100 points in two games against Saracens here this year.

Bordeaux did not have the brilliant Damian Penaud or Matthieu Jalibert, both sidelined by injury, but equally Quins were without Danny Care, Joe Marler and Joe Launchbury, who withdrew on the eve of the game with a calf strain. It mattered not as Alex Dombrandt, Chandler Cunningham-South, Will Evans, Oscar Beard and Fin Baxter, the latter performing heroically in the scrums opposite the mountainous Ben Tameifuna, showed why Quins’ future is increasingly bright.

The visitors’ preferred plan had been clear from the outset: run Bordeaux and their big forwards around for as long as humanly possible. As early as the third minute, after an initial surge from Cunningham-South, André Esterhuizen found space down the blindside and Porter, lurking on his inside, cantered over unopposed.

It was only the start. A hard-running Oscar Beard stretched a complacent home defence and soon afterwards, just as a hitch-kicking Marcus Smith was set to put an unmarked Tyrone Green over on the right, a deliberate knockdown by Matéo Garcia conceded a yellow card and a fully justified penalty try.

The hosts surely had to wake up some time. “UBB, Allez, Allez, Allez!”, chanted to the tune of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, rang around the ground and, right at the end of the first quarter, they scored with almost their first attack when their skipper, Maxime Lucu, dived over in the left corner. Porter had been taken out behind the ruck just beforehand but the decision was allowed to stand.

Suddenly it was a completely different jeu and all the decisions were going the way of Bordeaux. It initially seemed Green had miraculously held up a close-range lunge from Romain Buros but the Italian referee ultimately overturned his original decision, suitably encouraged by the baying home support.

Quins badly needed something special to wrest back some momentum and, bang on cue, it arrived. The visitors launched a daring raid from their own 22 and Cadan Murley cleverly twisted away from a couple of tacklers before finding Dombrandt. The No 8 stood firm in the tackle long enough to throw a world-class offload to Porter who rounded off a spectacular move by regathering his own chip ahead for a classic score.

By half-time they had stretched their lead to 28-12, with Evans burrowing over after a purposeful lineout drive and Smith drilling over another conversion. Having almost failed to defend a 40-3 lead against Bath last month, though, Quins were well aware the contest was far from over.

So it proved with Bordeaux producing a stunning riposte only three minutes after the restart, the French international centre Nicolas Depoortère scooping a Lucu offload off his toes before diving into the left corner. For a while Quins were clinging on, until another scrum penalty gave them a chance to kick to the corner, get their maul rumbling again and put Dombrandt over.

One missed tackle on Buros, though, was all it took to set up Louis Bielle-Biarrey for Bordeaux’s fourth try and suddenly all the pressure was back on Quins. A chip from Bielle-Biarrey bounced away from Louis Lynagh and, in the blink of an eye, the replacement Madosh Tambwe was over, with Lucu’s conversion putting the hosts ahead for the first time with 15 minutes remaining.

The decisive drama was only just starting. Sam Riley lost the ball as he was about to score from another rolling maul before another sweeping Quins move ended with Lynagh putting Tyrone Green over to seize the lead again. Could they cling on? Tambwe scored again with four minutes left but Lucu’s conversion flew narrowly wide to give Quins their finest victory on French soil.