Bordeaux receive double ban ahead of Champions Cup clash with Bath

Bordeaux-Begles and France loosehead prop Jefferson Poirot will miss this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final with Bath after receiving a two-match ban.

The 33-year-old received an orange card for a dangerous tackle in Bordeaux’s recent 23-21 Top 14 defeat to Montpellier and was slapped with a ban this week after a hearing before an LNR disciplinary committee.

The offence came in the dying seconds of the match at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Saturday, as his head-on-head contact with fellow prop Valentin Welsch provided Montpellier with the match-winning penalty.

The ban was originally two weeks, but was increased by a further week due to his disciplinary record. The ban was then reduced by one week for his expression of remorse, admission of guilt, and conduct before and during the hearing, whereupon the original two week ban stood.

He will now miss Sunday’s Champions Cup semi-final meeting with Bath at the Stade Atlantique.

Fixture

Investec Champions Cup

Bordeaux

07:00

3 May 26

Bath

All Stats and Data

To make matters worse for Bordeaux, their head coach Yannick Bru has also been banned for two weeks for disrespecting the authority of a match official in the aftermath of Bordeaux’s 45-15 defeat to La Rochelle the week prior to their loss to Montpellier.

He too has received a two week ban via the circuitous route of increasing a week, then reducing a week, meaning he is suspended for the weekend’s encounter and will have to watch the match from the stands. On top of that, the reigning European champions have been sanctioned with a €10k fine.

The 36-cap Poirot starred in the quarter-final victory over Toulouse, registering three turnovers as Bordeaux triumphed over their French rivals.

With Bath arriving on the Atlantic coast with a formidable pack, spearheaded by South Africa tighthead Thomas du Toit, losing a loosehead could prove pivotal in the outcome of the contest.