“Ah, but life is like that! It does not permit you to arrange and order it as you will” Hercule Poirot.

A quote from Poirot, but on this occasion it was from the fictional Belgian detective Hercule and not his thirty-six times capped French namesake and Union Bordeaux Bègles prop Jefferson.

Bordeaux had arranged, ordered and even prayed for some silverware this season and yesterday in the Welsh capital they were finally rewarded for their efforts.

With an empty trophy cabinet gathering dust back at Stade Chaban Delmas Jefferson Poirot was hoping to be a prime suspect to lift the Investec Champions Cup under the roof in Cardiff.

And in the end, the case of the missing trophy was finally solved, a who dunnit where in the final chapter it was Bordeaux who did it. The only crime committed was their profligacy in failing to convert the amount of chances they spurned in the second half.

It’s fair to say that this final was a tale of the unexpected. All bets were on a Toulouse v Leinster repeat, but those two epic semi-finals at the beginning of the month turned the tournament on its head. In the process, it gave us the mouthwatering prospect of two exciting running attacking teams facing each other for the honour of being declared European Champions.

The match did not disappoint. Finals can often be nervous, tight, scrappy affairs, but we knew from the moment Saints kicked off that this game was going to be something special.

A frantic start saw Alex Cole’s first minute try negated by Damian Penaud’s effort in the fifth. In between those two scores, Northampton lost Ramm and Furbank to injury.

Two further Bordeaux tries from Adam Coleman and a second from Penaud gave the French a 20-13 lead before Coles got his second for Northampton in the final minute of the first half. Smith’s conversion made it 20-20 as the half-time whistle blew.

The second half was a different story as Bordeaux’s power began to tell. A Maxime Lucu penalty on 44 minutes and a Cyril Cazeaux try eleven minutes later gave Bordeaux a 28-20 lead, and the last twenty-five minutes of the match remained scoreless.

Jalibert and Lucu’s little grey cells were working overtime as they combined to keep Northampton pegged back in their own half with wave after wave of astute tactical kicking.

Despite their valiant efforts, Saints were unable to get decent field position as the match drew to a close. 

The final whistle drew scenes of unadulterated joy from the UBB players, coaching staff and fans as their thirst for silverware had been finally sated. 

Bordeaux must quickly turn their attention to the Top 14 another chapter for Poirot and another ghost to bury following last season’s thumping in the Final by Toulouse.

The contents of their trophy cabinet might well have doubled come the end of June, although such is the size and weight of the Bouclier de Brennus shield awarded to the Top 14 winners it will need to be housed in a storage unit rather than a trophy cabinet.

As Poirot said in ‘Death on the Nile’ “It is not the past that matters, but the future” but for now Union Bordeaux Bègles are well and truly living in the present and loving every minute of it.