Magnifique! It’s a Bordeaux-Begles Champions Cup double

Bordeaux-Begles secured back-to-back Champions Cup titles with a 41-19 demolition of Leinster in Bilbao.

Leinster opened the scoring with a Tommy O’Brien try but Bordeaux then smashed over five from Maxime Lucu, Pablo Uberti, Yoram Moefana and a double from Louis Bielle-Biarrey.

After the game, Bordeaux assistant coach Noel McNamara revealed his players took inspiration from golfer Rory McIlroy’s Masters win earlier this year.

“The players understand what they are good at,” he said. “When you do it once, it becomes easier.”

Motivation

He continued: “We took motivation from that and spoke about Rory McIlroy in the lead-up to the quarter-final against Toulouse.

“Good players win one Green Jacket, great players, like Rory, win two. We have fantastic players.

“They made the decision that one Champions Cup is not enough.”

Four-time winners Leinster’s wait for an elusive fifth star rolls on and captain Caelan Doris says his side must stick together as their attention now shifts to defending their URC crown in the coming weeks.

He added: “You have to credit Bordeaux. Some of their attack in that first half was incredibly hard to deal with.

“It’s an incredibly tough competition to win. I’m proud of the boys for the resilience they showed to keep coming back, and no doubt we’ll be back better again next year.

“We’ve got to stay together.

“There’s a special group of players, and there are some lads moving on, so we’re going to have to celebrate them over the next couple of days before turning the page to finish the season with silverware.”

Champions: Bordeaux Begles celebrate their triumph in Bilbao
PICTURE: Getty Images

Big family

Bordeaux wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, speaking on Premier Sports, said: “This team is a big family.

“We are back-to-back champions and one of the best. We work a lot and it is really nice. We are always smiling, that is our mindset.”

Bordeaux’s Australian lock Adam Coleman joined the French side in 2023 when London Irish went into administration, and delivered a standout performance in another European final after scoring in Cardiff last year against Northampton Saints.

“The boys stepped up in defence and set the platform,” said Coleman. “We are winning so will not change anything.

“Young guys stepped up, and so did our front row. We won’t think too far ahead about winning the Top 14. And who knows if we could win three Champions Cups in a row.”

Best team

Leinster coach Leo Cullen predicted that “everyone will be going for Bordeaux” next season to deny the French side a three-peat.

He said: “They have done their back-to-back and they will be going for three in a row to replicate what Toulon have done in the past.

“Everyone will be chasing them as they are clearly the best team in the competition right now.”

He added that Bordeaux were better at “split-second stuff ” and their clinical edge made the difference.

“We knew it was going to be tough and we knew we were underdogs,” he said. “They were favourites for a reason and they were that bit better than us today.

“It’s frustrating, you want to give a better account of yourselves and have that ruthless mindset in terms of execution.

“The speed in how they do things is very impressive. That’s the bit we need to get after. We need to reflect as a group and take stock on how we move forward.”