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The Breakdown | Will Bath or anyone else stop the Bordeaux Bègles juggernaut in Europe?

about 6 hours ago
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Last week Northampton’s director of rugby, Phil Dowson, made an interesting comparison between boxing and rugby,He suggested there was a decent chance his side’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Bath would prove good viewing because of the clubs’ contrasting philosophies around how best to play the game,“Styles make fights” is a familiar ring mantra and the same is increasingly true in top-level rugby,On the one hand you had Northampton, all razor-sharp angles and dextrous hands,On the other was Bath, renowned for their knack of wearing their rivals down and then picking them off in the closing stages.

The upshot on Friday night, just as Dowson had predicted, was a truly classic knockout tie in which Bath overcame an early 28-7 deficit to win 43-41 and reach their first European Cup semi-final in 20 years.By comparison the glossy all-French duel involving Bordeaux Bègles and Toulouse on Sunday did not, at first glance, hit quite the same heights.The two sides know each other extremely well and, for a long time, the upshot was a cagey contest most notable for some exceptional defence and a stunning all-round individual display by Toulouse’s English flanker Jack Willis.An entire column, by the way, could be written about English rugby’s treatment of Willis and his Bordeaux-bound brother Tom and the difference both could yet make to their country’s World Cup prospects next year.“Phenomenal” was the verdict of Benjamin Kayser on Premier Sports.

“I’m happy for France that England don’t pick him.” Quite so.For now, though, let’s focus on why Bordeaux are within 160 minutes of defending their Champions Cup title.And, specifically, whether anyone will be able to outlast them even when they are below their shimmering best.The Toulouse game was a prime example; not everyone would have backed UBB early in the second half with the visitors ahead 15-5 and Willis, in particular, proving une veritable peste.

But then what happened? Bordeaux rammed home 25 unanswered points while an increasingly deflated Toulouse, having previously lost their international prop Dorian Aldegheri to a 20-minute red card, failed to score again.Once again the home bench made a significant difference, none more so then the massive Ben Tameifuna who made a key impact at the breakdown and added an all-important close-range try.In time-honoured rope a dope style, Toulouse grew steadily wearier and ultimately trailed in a distant second.The evidence would certainly imply it is a mistake to fixate solely on the fleet-footed brilliance of Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Matthieu Jalibert while ignoring the larger boulders – men like Tameifuna, Adam Coleman, Jefferson Poirot, Cameron Woki and Temo Matiu – who make Bordeaux increasingly tough opponents.It was a similar story in last year’s final: Northampton were right in the game at 20-20 but then failed to score a point in the second half and went down 28-20.

The Saints will rightly point to the injuries that undermined their chances both in Cardiff last year and at the Rec on Friday, with Curtis Langdon and Tom Pearson the most recent casualties.Equally there is no ignoring the trend in big games between well-matched teams: starting fast is clearly desirable but finishing strongest is what wins modern-day trophies.Which is why it might pay not to write off Bath entirely ahead of their semi-final early next month.Yes it would have helped had the upcoming game been in Milton Keynes rather than on the banks of the Garonne but if there is any team precision engineered to counter UBB’s modus operandi it is potentially Johann van Graan’s squad.Just when Bordeaux are looking to turn the second-half screw they will look up and see a team primed to do exactly the same.

For Tameifuna read Thomas du Toit, the Bath tighthead who had the last set-piece laugh against Saints on Friday night.Opposite Jalibert and Maxime Lucu will be the similarly influential Finn Russell and Ben Spencer, another contrasting duo who supply a nice tactical blend.You can also safely predict Bath will select a 6-2 bench with the deliberate aim of coming home punishingly hard.As Van Graan put it: “We don’t know how to give up.”There is also an historical precedent.

No one gave Bath much hope when they headed to Bordeaux in 1998 for the final of the old Heineken Cup, only for Andy Nicol’s side to score a 19-18 upset win over the then-holders Brive with full-back Jon Callard scoring all their points.It might just be worth Van Graan sticking up a few evocative images from that game to remind everyone that rugby outcomes are not always preordained.And maybe history could yet repeat itself for another West Country side.Exeter Chiefs had their precarious moments in their Challenge Cup quarter-final in Treviso but their 44-41 win over Benetton was another throwback, this time to the days when the Chiefs’ refused to take no for an answer in Europe.This time they still have to go to Belfast to face Ulster but their ability to hang tough in the final quarter, with Henry Slade slotting some nerveless kicks, was reminiscent of their momentous double-winning season in 2020.

The Dragons will argue, rightly, that no oval-shaped fairytale could possibly eclipse the relative miracle of the previously downtrodden Welsh region going all the way in this season’s Challenge Cup.But if the Chiefs, rejuvenated in the latter stages of games this season following a brutally tough pre season, and Bath are both still standing on finals weekend in Bilbao next month it will stir some special memories.At which point, who knows? One last well-timed punch might just do it.This is an extract from our weekly rugby union email, the Breakdown.To subscribe just visit this page and follow the instructions.

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Celebrity on celebrity: are we losing the art of the big star interview?

We live in a time where ultra-rich businesspeople have accrued more wealth and power than ever, creating a growing sentiment that they ought to be held to account, no doubt exacerbated by the fact that a wealthy businessman is in his second self-enriching term in the US presidency. So naturally, CNN, Donald Trump’s supposed nemesis, has figured out the best way to use their resources to better interrogate this elevated class: by letting them interview each other about their businesses. The 1 on 1 is named not for an actual journalist going up against a major business leader; they would probably never agree to that. So instead, CEOs can “grill” each other about whatever they mutually agree are the correct things to ask fellow elites. A spokesperson says these conversations will be “refreshingly direct”

3 days ago
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The Guide #238: The overlooked underdogs of British ​quiz​shows that are still worth a stream

The quizshow will never die. Nuclear war could rid the earth of all living creatures bar the cockroaches and still, a shiny floored half-hourer hosted by Stephen Mulhern will somehow be airing on the emergency broadcast system. Quizshows have been airing on British screens since 1938, when a televised spelling bee was broadcast on the BBC, and they have remained remarkably resilient. Today they seem a good accompaniment to an era where everyone seems to be tapping away at puzzles on their phone.Scroll down the channel guide of your TV and it won’t be long until you find a quizshow (and that one will almost certainly be The Chase)

3 days ago
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From You, Me & Tuscany to Euphoria: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead

Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page star in a slinky new romcom, while the dissolute teens of the US drama are back in their 20sYou, Me & TuscanyOut now Where would the romcom be if everyone told the truth? When impulsive cook Anna (Halle Bailey) tells a porky pie about being engaged in order to justify her presence in an abandoned Tuscan villa, a train of events leading to true love is – naturally – set in motion. Regé-Jean Page and Nia Vardalos co-star.The StrangerOut now In 1930s Algiers, a young man, Meursault, commits murder. The premise will be familiar to Albert Camus ride-or-dies, for this is indeed an adaptation of the literary giant’s debut, from François Ozon. Rising French actor Benjamin Voisin plays the unassuming antihero, with Pierre Lottin as the dodgy neighbour whose private life spells trouble

3 days ago
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‘I got everything I dreamed of – when I had no ability to handle it’: Lena Dunham on toxic fame, broken friendships and her ‘lost decade’

Stardom came fast and hard for the wunderkind who created the hit HBO series Girls aged just 23. Now she’s written a tell-all memoir about why she was forced to retreat from the spotlight Lena Dunham on going to rehab: read an exclusive extract from FamesickIf there is something to be learned from the words people pick for their passwords and proxies, then Lena Dunham’s choice of aliases – pseudonyms that, as a public person, she has used over the years to conceal her identity when checking into rehab or ordering room service – give us a tiny glimpse into the writer and director’s self-image. Among her staples, “Lauri Reynolds” (after her mum, Laurie, with whom she is strikingly close); “Rose O’Neill” (after the American millionaire illustrator, who lost her fortune to burnout and hangers-on); and my favourite, “Renata Halpern”, an alias Dunham shares with readers of her delicious new memoir, Famesick, without explaining the name’s origin.“Has anyone else clocked the Renata Halpern reference?” I ask Dunham, who is in her apartment in New York, talking fast via video call while waiting for an egg-and-cheese bagel to be run up from the deli. On the brink of 40, she is in her dark-haired era – very Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – which, this morning, is set against a bright orange shirt and the pale, glowy skin she describes as the single happy side-effect of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition of the connective tissue with which Dunham was diagnosed in 2019

3 days ago
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Kimmel on Trump: ‘He talks about war like he’s bragging about women with Billy Bush’

Jimmy Kimmel expressed frustration over Donald Trump’s confusing statements on Iran while also expressing shock over Melania Trump’s surprise statement.The ABC host spoke about the ongoing war in Iran that is happening “for reasons known only to Donald Trump” and how we remain unsure over the strait of Hormuz and whether it is or isn’t open.Kimmel joked that with all the back and forth over it, “basically after all this he got us is constipation”.Trump has been teasing a “grand reopening” as well as a possible business partnership with Iran “which makes no sense”.Kimmel joked that “he’ll put it on his vision board and will it to be true” before moving on to his threats on social media teasing the military’s “next conquest”

4 days ago
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Jimmy Kimmel on US ceasefire negotiators: ‘We’d be better off with Alvin and the Chipmunks’

On Wednesday night, late-night hosts reacted to Donald Trump’s threat to wipe out Iran, the trio who are leading ceasefire negotiations in the region and JD Vance’s trip to Budapest in support of Viktor Orbán.Jimmy Kimmel focused on the ceasefire that resulted from Trump’s warning that “an entire civilization will die” if Iran did not meet US demands to open the strait of Hormuz.“Once again, he made a big threat and backed off like your dad threatening to pull the car over and turn it around,” Kimmel said.“What a time to be alive. A man who has the nuclear codes written on his stomach in ketchup has the power to wipe a whole country off the map

5 days ago
societySee all
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AI to predict how bowel cancer patients will respond to new NHS drug

1 day ago
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Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds

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More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says

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‘I just want to feel like me again’: the women still waiting for breast reconstruction years after lockdown

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Iran war could plunge 32 million into poverty, says United Nations

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Thousands of unpaid carers to face DWP repayment demands during overhaul

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