Bordeaux put Connacht to the sword in Champions Cup opener

Connacht's Investec Champions Cup campaign got off to a disastrous start as they fell to a 41-5 defeat to Bordeaux-Begles and lost Mack Hansen to injury.

Yannick Bru’s men scored six tries at the Sportsground and Connacht never got to grips with the pace of the visitors in attack and their tenacity in defence.

The loss of Hansen to an ankle injury in the 22nd minute, with the hosts trailing by just two points, may have seemed like a turning point but, in truth, Bordeaux were on top for almost all of this game, played in relatively benign conditions after a wet and windy day in Galway.

They led 12-5 at the break and a two-try salvo in the opening 14 minutes of the second half killed off any lingering hope of a result in the opening Pool 1 tie.

Pete Wilkins' side have now lost three in a row after winning their opening three games of the season.

There can often be questions about how French teams travel but Bordeaux had a clear answer: with intent.

After soaking up an early spell of pressure inside their own half - where Hansen, Bundee Aki and Cian Prendergast asked questions of the visitors' defence - they needed no encouragement to run the ball.

When Dave Heffernan's throw went astray close to the Bordeaux line, the ball was quickly moved wide and within moments they had the lead.

A quick ruck in midfield allowed Nicolas Depoortere to run at pace and his switch with Tevita Tatafu opened up the Connacht defence, the number 8 popped to full-back Romain Buros to run in unopposed with France scrum-half Maxime Lucu adding the extras.

While the lineout was a mess, the hosts' scrum was much better and they drew a number of penalties in the opening quarter.

One of these allowed JJ Hanrahan to kick to the corner and from there a maul edged