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France scrum-half Antoine Dupont scored a late try as joint-record four-time winners Toulouse reached the European Champions Cup final with a 21-9 home win over Bordeaux-Begles on Saturday Dupont crossed in the final 10 minutes against an away side who played their first game since April 11's quarter-final victory over Racing 92 after recording eight cases of coronavirus in their squad. The hosts, who last won the competition in 2010, will face either La Rochelle or fellow four-time champions Leinster, who play on Sunday, in the final at Twickenham on May 22. Toulouse coach Ugo Mola brought former New Zealand back-rower Jerome Kaino back into the starting lineup after he had been rested since the last-eight win over Clermont three weeks ago. Bordeaux coach Christophe Urios made six changes from the win against Racing last month, with former France captain Jefferson Poirot, who was one of the squad members to contract the virus, starting on the bench. At a rain-sodden Stade Ernest-Wallon, Urios' men led 3-0 within three minutes after Matthieu Jalibert's penalty goal. Toulouse responded immediately as they defied the difficult conditions before the Top 14's leading try scorer Matthis Lebel crossed in the corner. Lebel, 22, claimed his 15th of the season after ambitious passes from Romain Ntamack and Maxime Medard. Ntamack, who reclaimed the France No. 10 jersey for the final game of this year's Six Nations from Jalibert, missed the conversion. The two stand-offs traded shots at goal and Toulouse led 8-6 at the break despite Bordeaux-Begles' control of the fixture. The downpour stopped and the sun broke through after the interval as Ntamack kicked another penalty to make it 11-6 after 45 minutes. Mola's men took a patient stronghold of the tie before Ntamack and Jalibert were both succesful with shots at goal as the hosts led 14-9 with 10 minutes to go. With a place in the final on the line, the game opened up as the home side began to impose their traditional open style of play. Their possession was rewarded with seven minutes remaining as Medard freed his arms in a tackle, off-loaded to Zack Holmes, who found Dupont for his 16th try, for club and country, of the season. Ntamack slotted the extras and kicked the ball to touch with the clock in the red to end the game as Toulouse made it to their first final in more than a decade. iwd/dj
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