An unbelievably brave Northampton Saints display was ultimately not enough against a brutal Bordeaux-Begles side who claimed their maiden Investec Champions Cup crown with a 28-20 win in Cardiff.

A record-breaking 40 points were scored in the first-half of this pulsating final but still the sides could not be split at the interval after two tries apiece for Alex Coles and Damian Penaud, taking his tally to 23 scores in as many games this season.

Read more: Seven players who came from nowhere to make the Lions like Henry Pollock

Bordeaux skipper Maxime Lucu’s penalty and a try for Cyril Cazeaux crucially took the French side outside of one score and ultimately it proved enough to repel a Saints team who failed to get on the scoreboard in the second half but simply refused to give in until the final whistle in the Welsh capital.

While Saturday’s match was an incredible spectacle, it did highlight three areas where things could be changed for the better in the game.

Three things rugby must change

1. The use of the TMO and big screens

It’s not quite at the levels of VAR debacle we see in football and an era where players are scared to celebrate goals but you lost count of the number of the TMO involvements in this game in Cardiff.

For every scintillating score that made it through a check there was another chalked off, sometimes correctly and sometimes marginally but always after a protracted delay.

The Investec Champions Cup final match officials congregate at Principality Stadium (Inpho)

Repeated checks from upstairs kills momentum in games and makes games of rugby union increasingly hard to follow for those in the stadium and the casual observer – who rugby’s big wigs should be pining after to stay relevant in today’s congested sporting market.

Perhaps the main gripe was that several TMO checks seemed to be instigated by players waving their arms after catching sight of a disagreeable replay on the big screen. That wasn’t aided by the loud boos from either set of fans when it suited their cause.

Rugby is a game of imperfection both in playing and officiating and you have to draw the line somewhere or we will be subjected to NFL-length games.

2. The Champions Cup cannot wait for the knockouts to generate excitement

The message is clear from the players we speak to: Europe has lost its appeal, at least until you get to the business end of proceedings.

Chopping and changing formats, names, sponsors and broadcasters has done little to cement the legacy of the halcyon days of the Heineken Cup.

The introduction of South African teams to the pinnacle of European rugby was a tough enough concept to get your ahead around but if you add in caveats about which sides have to fly there in the group stages, things are only harder to follow.

Investec Champions Cup pool matches often flatter to deceive

Let’s not get it wrong, it’s far from all doom and gloom. We’ve had two terrific Champions Cup finals in the last two years and Northampton’s win in Leinster to make this one was one of the games of the season and must go down as one of the all-time shocks and best away performances in 30 years.

But why should we have to wait weeks and weeks for this type of excitement? It’s about time this tournament delivered from the off.

EPCR confirmed the arrival of the Rugby World Club Cup from 2028 on a four-yearly basis and it will supersede the Champions Cup knockouts. Perhaps this is the golden ticket and will give an added edge to proceedings with eight sides qualifying and joining another eight from Super Rugby Pacific and Japan. Time will tell!

3. Decide how to use red cards

For a while it looked like everything was going to be a red card and now it appears you can almost always get away with a yellow if there’s any modicum of mitigation.

First Sam Underhill on Friday night and then Mahmadou Diaby and arguably Ed Prowse were all lucky to only receive yellow for dangerous tackles. If the game is still serious about player safety, the harshest sanctions are still warranted to help drive these collisions out of the game and force players to change habits.

Now that World Rugby has pushed 20-minute red cards to a global trial, that appears to be the direction of travel and perhaps is the best compromise between severity and protecting the sanctity of the spectacle.

One way or another, we need a return to clarity.

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