Union Bordeaux Bègles v Northampton Saints: Big match preview

Venue: Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux

Date and kick-off time: Sunday, January 11, 2026, 3.15pm (UK time)

Weather forecast: 10c, cloudy

Live television coverage: Premier Sports

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)

Assistant referees: Robbie Jenkinson and Padraic Reidy (Ireland)

No.4: Adrien Marbot (France)

TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

Union Bordeaux Bègles: 15 Salesi Rayasi; 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey; 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Martin Page-Relo; 1 Jefferson Poirot, 2 Maxime Lamothe (c), 3 Carlü Sadie; 4. Adam Coleman, 5 Cyril Cazeaux; 6 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Cameron Woki, 8 Temo Matiu.

Replacements: 16 Gaetan Barlot, 17 Matis Perchaud, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Boris Palu, 20 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21 Arthur Retiere, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

Saints: 15 George Hendy; 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Edoardo Todaro; 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Danilo Fischetti, 2 Craig Wright, 3 Trevor Davison; 4 Alex Coles, 5 JJ Van Der Mescht; 6 Callum Chick (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Henry Pollock.

Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Chunya Munga, 21 Sam Graham, 22 Archie McParland, 23 James Ramm.

Not considered for Saints selection: Emeka Atuanya, Anthony Belleau, Fraser Dingwall, George Furbank, Will Glister, Josh Kemeny, Curtis Langdon, Tom Litchfield, Tom Lockett, Charlie Ulcoq, Tom West.

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: "It's huge, a re-run of last year's final. Credit to them because they're an outstanding group and they've carried on where they left off in lots of ways. Watching them against Bulls away, watching them play Toulon, which was the game I watched before we played last weekend - they've been outstanding. They're a very, very high quality group of players, a high quality coaching group and some continuity from last season as well. It's a really big challenge for us and it's exactly why we love the tournament because we're playing one of the best sides in Europe. We get to go there and measure ourselves. We're happy with where we are as a squad but we also know that our training level, our consistency, our application of fundamentals is what has given us this opportunity and we have to adhere to those things."

Opposition dangerman: Where do you even start? Bordeaux have an array of stars, including Louis Bialle-Biarrey and Damian Penaud, but Matthieu Jalibert’s stats were off the charts last weekend and he will be charged with making his team tick once again.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: Having predicted a defeat at Gallagher PREM champions Bath and seen Saints upset the odds with an incredibly special away display, I’m opting for the same tactic against the European champions. It would be so, so satisfying for Saints to win this one after the unsavoury and unnecessary fall-out from the final last May. Bordeaux 33 Saints 27.