Gloucester and Bordeaux draw 36-36 in Champions Cup — The Guardian

In the English city of Gloucester, Gloucester drew 36-36 with French side Bordeaux-Bègles, the reigning Champions Cup holders. The French club, which is seeking a third consecutive title, opened the new tournament season with a draw.

Home side ahead at half-time

As The Guardian reports, Bordeaux opened the scoring in the fourth minute when scrum-half Martin Page-Relo scored a try and Maxime Lucu added the conversion. Gloucester responded with tries from Arthur Clark and Max Llewellyn, but Sipili Falatea levelled the score again at 14-14.

After a 55-metre penalty from Lucu, the visitors took the lead, but a try by Barton and another penalty gave Gloucester a 24-17 advantage before the break. In the first half, the English side had possession for more than 60% of the time and made six clean breaks compared with one by their opponents.

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Trenholm double and Bielle-Biarrey's response

After the break, Bordeaux improved their play and scored two tries within 11 minutes. Winger Pablo Uberti scored after a long pass from Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who then scored one of his two tries in the match.

For Gloucester, Will Trenholm made an important contribution after coming off the bench, scoring two tries in five minutes. Bielle-Biarrey later helped the visitors level the score, and both teams had chances to snatch victory in the final quarter of the match.

Bordeaux played without injured fly-half Matthieu Jalibert, while captain Maxime Lucu played at number 10. Before the match, four players from the French club, including Bielle-Biarrey, were held for four hours by British border officials because they did not have a valid electronic permit to enter the United Kingdom.