Hooker Maxime Lamothe said he was lucky "after" scoring a historic hat-trick as Bordeaux-Begles beat Toulon 39-24 on Saturday to set-up a repeat of last season's French Top 14 final.
Lamothe became the first player to score three tries in a Top 14 knock-out game which helped Bordeaux clinch a place in next Saturday's decider in Paris against holders and record 23-time champions Toulouse.
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Bordeaux-Begles will now eye a double after winning the Champions Cup a month ago and they will also seek revenge for being hammered 59-3 in last year's domestic final.
"The hat-trick is a anecdotal more than anything, I'm lucky, thanks to all my team-mate who did all the work" Lamothe told French broadaster Canal+.
"We're where we want to be, now it's up to us to do the job," he added.
New Zealand centre Leicester Fainga'anuku, Fiji winger Setariki Tuicuvu and Georgia prop Beka Gigashvili were Toulon's try-scorers in their first French semi-final since 2017.
Earlier in the round, defending champions Toulouse held off Bayonne 32-25 on Friday to advance to the final. Scoring two tries through half-backs Romain Ntamack and Paul Graou, full-back Thomas Ramos was the star, kicking 22 points.
But Ugo Mola's side were pushed hard in the sweltering Lyon heat, failing to erase the doubts of their 35-18 defeat in the Champions Cup semi-finals against Bordeaux-Begles in early May.
"In this type of match, Toulouse often comes out on top because they have the experience," said Bayonne coach Gregory Patat.
"They controlled the game at their own pace, with their own know-how.
"We should have scored a few more to get back into the game, to see where they (Toulouse) really stand."
A succession of injuries in the last few months to Antoine Dupont, Peato Mauvaka, Blair Kinghorn, who returned on Friday night, and Ange Capuozzo, had raised Toulouse concerns but they came through to stamp their ticket for next week's final at the Stade de France.
"Regarding commitment, and certainly what I needed answers on, we got answers," said Mola.
"We were there. And we hadn't really hit the ground running for two months."
Bordeaux-Begles, who includes Wallabies Pete Samu, Lachie Swinton and Ben Tapuai, finished second behind Toulouse in the table.
They also are experiencing injury issues of their own, being without winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey due to concussion but the 22-year-old is expected to be fit for next weekend's showdown in Paris.
One positive from this result will mean Toulon's exit could see more French stars selected in the national side's squad for the July Test series with New Zealand - Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie previously coming under fire for sending a 'second-string' side.
