Arundell on long route to Bath's big day and hometown glory

Henry Arundell was always destined to play for Bath but has found his way into the blue, black and white via a lonely stint in Paris. By Mike Henson BBC Sport rugby union news reporter Henry Arundell's favourite childhood memory of Bath is of another semi-final. "That was an awesome day - I remember that team so well," Arundell told BBC Sport. "I was just a child who loved rugby and dreamed of one day being in this scenario, so, yeah, it's pretty cool." On Sunday, Arundell, now 23, and his modern-day Bath team have another semi-final to negotiate. Bordeaux-Begles, the star-studded, reigning champions, have home advantage at a sold-out 42,000-capacity Stade Atlantique in a scrap to make 23 May's Champions Cup final.

Bordeaux-Begles v Bath Investec Champions Cup Sunday 3 May, 15:00 BST Stade Atlantique Bordeaux Metropole Listen on Sounds Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 and online The match will be Bath's first Champions Cup semi-final in 20 years. Arundell too has taken a longer-than-expected route to this point. As a rugby-mad schoolboy at Beechen Cliff in Bath, the club were the obvious career choice. Arundell's team-mates Miles Reid (four years above), Tom de Glanville (three years above), Ethan Staddon (a year above) and Vilikesa 'Billy' Sela (two years below) were all tied to Bath's academy from the state school's rugby programme. Henry got a scholarship.

However, London Irish went into administration in June 2023 and Arundell opted for a move to French club Racing 92. Former England coach Stuart Lancaster, who had brought Arundell to the club, was sacked in February 2025 amid some miserable results. "I'm seeing my family every week now, rather than every few months. Having that support system is very special and I probably didn't appreciate that enough when I was a bit younger." Arundell ended his stay at Racing a year early, agreeing a deal return home to Bath - "there was only one club I ever wanted to come back to" - and tuning in to watch from Paris as they won a treble of Premiership, Premiership Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup last season. Bath are firmly on track for the play-offs in their defence of their English title.

The prospect of beating Leinster in the Champions Cup final in Bilbao is arguably an easier assignment than downing Bordeaux-Begles in the last four. Arundell watched on enviously as the team took a bus-top parade around Bath last summer, showing off silverware in his home town. The last time Arundell visited Bordeaux-Begles, his team, in his own words, were "battered". "They're a very good team - they wouldn't have won Europe or competed in Top 14 finals if they weren't," said Arundell. "They have this incredible, organised-chaos style that they play every day, week in, week out.

"But we're really good at what we do too. So I think the main plan for us is just play our game, back our game and we'll see what happens." That isn't any Gallic laissez-faire left over from his Racing stint though. Arundell has experienced enough already in his short career to recognise a good thing. Henry Arundell was always destined to play for Bath but has found his way into the blue, black and white via a lonely stint in Paris. Arundell on long route to Bath's big day and hometown glory