Ben Youngs’ Investec Champions Cup: My tip to win Bilbao final, the most absolutely awesome individual duel and a Combined Leinster-Bordeaux XV
Ben Youngs previews and predicts the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup Finals.
In his concluding 2025/26 Investec Champions Cup column for Planet Rugby, For The Love Of Rugby co-host Ben Youngs predicts the winner of this Saturday’s final in Bilbao, salivates over the battle of two brilliant nines, names his combined Bordeaux-Leinster XV and picks his European player of the year.
Leinster Rugby v Union Bordeaux Bègles – Saturday, 2:45pm (Bilbao)
I am going to lean towards Bordeaux based on their route to the Champions Cup final. They played Leicester Tigers in the last 16, who were last year’s finalists in the PREM. They then went and played against Stade Toulousain, and we all know what a juggernaut they are.
Next, they took on Bath Rugby, last year’s PREM and Challenge Cup winners, so we know the capabilities of Bordeaux because they have had to bring it in those three knockout stage games to progress.
I look at Leinster and it’s hard to really gauge where they are at, as they only played Sale Sharks, Edinburgh Rugby and RC Toulon. If I am looking at this final on that basis, I have to pick Bordeaux to do the business in Bilbao and go back-to-back.
Leinster’s big hope
With their blitz defence and the way they do it, Leinster will try to cut that time and space away to force Bordeaux back inside as much as possible. If you look at Matthieu Jalibert, he has literally carried the ball more than anyone else, so the more Leinster blitz forces him back inside and keeps Bordeaux stuck between the 15s would be good for them.
The fear then is that this is where Bordeaux might just outmuscle Leinster, having been forced back inside by that blitz and getting kept away from the wider channels. The fact is, Bordeaux have such a big pack that they will be able to win collisions and almost tighten up that Leinster D. It’s going to be a big focus around the gain line.
Can Leinster get the territory right and almost force Bordeaux into playing a multi-phase attack further out so that Leo Cullen’s side can then force errors and penalties around the breakdown? Or can Yannick Bru’s team, if they don’t get around the blitz, go through it? Can they get the momentum and win those collisions to tighten Leinster up?
Bordeaux’s year as defending champions
I have seen progression in their game since they won last year’s final against Northampton Saints in Cardiff, but the thing with Bordeaux is that when they keep the ball alive and move it, they have got these rock star backs who are just so lethal off turnovers.
That DNA hasn’t changed over the course of the 2025/26 campaign. Any turnovers, any unstructured, you have got Louis Bielle-Biarrey who can chase down kicks, you have got Damian Penaud who is brilliant in that open field, and so is Salesi Rayasi at full-back. You also have Jalibert, who thrives in this style.
Yes, I have seen the evolution of Bordeaux, but fundamentally, what makes them so lethal is not the power game; it’s that unstructured, chaotic way that the French love. When the game breaks up, there are few teams better than Bordeaux for capitalising on those opportunities.
Their power game is then what becomes decisive in the closing 20 minutes. I was at their quarter-final win over Stade Toulousain and what I took away was how in the opening 20 minutes, Antoine Dupont and co. were camped in Bordeaux’s half.
Bordeaux tried to escape and play out of there twice and messed up both times. If Leinster can camp in Bordeaux’s half in the early part of Saturday’s final, they have the attacking ability to be more efficient and understand the opportunities they have to take them.
That was the initial thing that I noticed six weeks ago, but then the second thing was that as the game went on, Bordeaux unleashed their bench. More and more players with carry power and the ability to keep winning collisions arrived. They dictated that final 20 minutes, with Maxime Lucu pulling the strings along with Jalibert. Bordeaux, in the end, were quite a force to watch live from the stands in France.
Out of the ordinary head-to-head (1)
This final is worth watching alone for the fact that it is Lucu versus Jamison Gibson-Park at nine. It’s going to be absolutely awesome, those two taking each other on, without doubt. The nines create the rhythm of the game. They dictate the whole tempo and flow, but the biggest thing for me is you have got to remember from a nine’s point of view is that you touch the ball more than anyone.
You make more decisions in a game of rugby than anyone else, and the ability of Lucu and Gibson-Park to consistently pick the right option over and over again is just what allows them to perform at the level they have. With Gibson-Park, it’s his variety in terms of the pass, his ability to snipe both sides; they are the absolute qualities that stand out. Then you look at Lucu and he is the heartbeat for Bordeaux.
It’s not only what they do in attack, however. It’s also what they do on the other side of the ball as well. We can obviously talk about the decision making and the tempo and all that, but let’s not forget these are nines that jackal and compete on the other side of the ball. You don’t always see that from a scrum-half.
The Bordeaux try that won the Investec Champions Cup out of the ordinary photograph of the year award for INPHO’s James Crombie
Out of the ordinary head-to-head (2)
Jalibert is that free-flowing French 10. He has done more carries than anyone else and more offloads than anyone else. He makes stuff happen. Harry Byrne is a brilliantly systematic player and has been fantastic for Leinster without doubt, but these are 10s with very different styles.
Jalibert has this ability to break up the game on his own as an individual, and that is where Bordeaux can spark something out of nothing. I look at the Bordeaux side and feel like it favours them more in those moments in big games where you just need an individual to bring something. I feel Bordeaux have just a bit more in their side than Leinster do, and this will be seen in this battle between the 10s.
Out of the ordinary head-to-head (3)
There are several other positional battles to savour. Cameron Woki could be in the Bordeaux engine room, but I feel he will be picked in the back-row and whoever he directly comes up against, it’s a battle that is going to be awesome. With Rieko Ioane likely to be on the Leinster wing, keep an eye out for the midfield clash of Garry Ringrose versus Penaud.
This is one area where Leinster could be really smart and exploit the French defence with the little subtle shapes that they run, the loops around the midfield and pick on Penaud. As a winger, he hasn’t got a huge amount of experience defending at 13, so the Leinster centre partnership of Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw trying to put shapes on Penaud is going to be pretty important.
Final verdict
Something Dan Cole and I have discussed on For the Love of Rugby is that it feels like the expectation leading into this final is more on Bordeaux. All the noise is about the French club, which is a good thing for Leinster compared to those lost finals in 2022, 2023 and 2024 when there was so much talk about them.
Leinster have been able to quietly go about their business, as they are not seen as favourites to win. But when you look at the quality they have and the calibre of individual players, they are a team that is more than capable of winning if you get the best version of Leinster on Saturday.
The bit that just favours Bordeaux at the minute is that they have produced performances leading up to this final, whereas Leinster haven’t had to go through the gears yet. I’m not saying they can’t – they certainly can – but they will definitely need to go up a few gears than what we have seen so far from them.
That’s the thing that makes it so exciting for the weekend. You look at Leinster and the individual talent they have is phenomenal. But when I look at the way they are playing, this system of high defence and all that, you do wonder, does it really suit that group of players? That’s the big thing for me, and it’s probably been the big thing with a lot of fans as well all year.
Prediction: I am going to go Bordeaux by eight points. I just feel that the last 20 minutes of matches, that is when they have been so effective and that is where they will sort of overpower Leinster in the end.
My Combined Bordeaux-Leinster XV
Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and ‘big’ Ben Tameifuna are my front-row. I would then go Joe McCarthy and James Ryan at second-row, Woki at six, Josh van der Flier at seven and Caelan Doris at eight. It’s a pretty Leinster-heavy pack, six players, and it’s weird given I have tipped the French club to win the final. Bordeaux are very good but if you look at it on their day, those individual players probably favour Leinster.
Then, going off this tournament alone, I’d go Lucu and Jalibert at half-back, Yoram Moefana with Penaud in midfield, Bielle-Biarrey on one wing with Tommy O’Brien on the other because he has played very well, and Rayasi has been very good at full-back for Bordeaux even though Hugo Keenan is now back fit and playing again for Leinster.
Investec European player of the year – Lucu
The Bordeaux scrum-half has been absolutely outstanding. It’s a really hard one to decide because Jalibert has also been immense, and so has Bielle-Biarrey. However, Jalibert is the player he is because of what Lucu does inside. So, with my nine hat on, I’m going to give it to Lucu.
Favourite all-time Champions Cup final
The way that Leinster-Toulouse decider unfolded in 2024, going to extra time at Tottenham, was an absolute belter. There was nothing to separate the two fantastic teams in normal time, and you had Leinster going for that drop goal in the end that went narrowly wide.
Sometimes finals don’t live up to their hype and expectation, but that one certainly did. The Stade Rochelais battles with Leinster in 2022 and 2023 were great, but the Leinster-Toulouse game going to extra time two years ago is the one for me.
Challenge Cup final – Montpellier Hérault Rugby v Ulster Rugby, Friday, 8pm (Bilbao)
It’s gutting from an Ulster perspective that Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale are injured. They are two big losses in terms of the Irish club’s firepower, and they are coming into this final with the disappointment of not having reached the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship.
In contrast, Montpellier are going very well in the Top 14, where they are second only to Toulouse, and Friday’s final will be another French-Irish battle where it will just come down to power. Montpellier will slowly grind away and get on top of Ulster in the last 20 minutes. They will have enough on the night. Prediction: Montpellier
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