Bordeaux’s fate lies in the hands of a former maths teacher who has never played rugby
Bordeaux's fate lies in the hands of a former maths teacher who has never played rugby
An Irish former maths teacher who has never played rugby holds the key to victory when Bordeaux play Bath in Sunday’s blockbuster Investec Champions Cup semi-final.
Finn Russell versus Matthieu Jalibert and Louis Bielle-Biarrey against Henry Arundell are just two of the mouthwatering head-to-heads in Sunday’s sell-out clash between the tournament holders and English champions.
Yet a man in the Bordeaux coaching booth, unknown to most casual rugby observers, wields the most influence, according to Johnnie Beattie, the former Scotland star who spent eight years playing in France.
“Nobody speaks about Noel”
Since joining UBB as attack coach in July 2023, Noel McNamara has taken the club to a quarter-final, semi-final and final in Europe’s blue riband rugby tournament, becoming champions for the first time a year ago.
“A lot of people don’t even know who he is. Nobody speaks about Noel,” says Beattie. “But the way he has set this team up in attack and got that backline operating, they can compete with anyone.”
McNamara’s impact can be seen in the total tries scored by Union Bordeaux Bègles across the Top 14 and Champions Cup. The season prior to his arrival, they mustered 63; a year later, the total was 124. Last season it went up again, to 152.
This term, Bordeaux are top scorers in Europe, amassing 27 in their four pool games and adding a further 13 in their two knock-out games to date.
“They are one of the most dangerous and attack-minded teams in the world,” adds Beattie. “Noel has done a formidable job priming this attack. He’s an incredible story.”
As a kid, McNamara hurled, ran cross country, played golf, badminton and soccer, his first love. One sport is conspicuous by its absence there.
Indeed, his first involvement with rugby came when he left uni and, via Glenstal Abbey School in Limerick, took his first job teaching maths and PE at Clongowes Wood College, a 45-minute drive to the west of Dublin.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner, he described himself as “very much an accidental rugby coach”. The teaching job, he explained, required him to also coach the under-13 rugby team. His first two groups went through two undefeated seasons.
“I was very lucky,” McNamara told Beattie’s Le French Rugby podcast in 2024. “There were no pre-conceived ideas, no fear of this isn’t how you do it. It was just figure it out, and I absolutely loved it. And when you love something, it’s never work.”
“Who the hell is this Noel guy?”
By 2018, he was Ireland Under-20 coach, leading them to a Six Nations Grand Slam a year later when he also became academy manager at Leinster. From there, he spent a short time coaching North Harbour in New Zealand before moving to Durban in South Africa to work with the Sharks.
“That is where he met Yannick Bru,” says Beattie, taking up the story. “Yannick, my old coach at Bayonne was on a career break before taking charge at Bordeaux.
“He observed the way Sharks did things, admired their attacking shape, and was like ‘Who the hell is this Noel guy who is the absolute brains of the operation?’ When he started at Bordeaux, you can guess the first person he called.
“And now anybody you ask at Bordeaux about Noel will tell you he runs the rugby side of the operation. Yannick is more a director of rugby, Noel would be seen as head coach in the sort of Anglo-world of how things operate.”
Beattie continues: “Attacking structures, templates, starter plays, getting you on the front foot, figuring out how to break down opposition…this is all Noel’s bag.
“His attention to detail, his ability to explain things and break things down – make it digestible, get points over – is exceptional. He is a great communicator and gets on with everyone.
“They love him and you see in the way the side is primed with their attack and how they go about their business, they’re frightening to play against. And that’s down to him.”
McNamara says of his approach to coaching: “I’ve always had this thing about comfort zone, learning zone, panic zone. If the comfort zone is in the middle, you’ve got to try and push out towards the panic zone as much as possible and try to find that sweet spot.”
It has certainly worked for him so far. In this season’s tournament alone, Bordeaux have stuck 64 points on Leicester, 50 on Bristol and Scarlets, 46 on Bulls and 30 on French champions Toulouse.
“Everybody I’ve spoken to that’s worked with Noel says he could be one of the best head coaches in Europe tomorrow if given a job,” adds Beattie, who is part of the Premier Sports team this weekend. “That’s how highly he’s regarded by the Bordeaux players.”
“If this game is played 10 times, Bordeaux run out winners in eight of them”
Johann van Graan, the brains behind Bath’s rags to riches rise since they propped up the Gallagher PREM in 2022, is no mug himself. Which explains why Sunday’s game is the match-up all of rugby wants to see.
“When Bordeaux are on and when they fire, they have the power, the X factor, the pace to rip anyone apart, as they showed against Toulouse in the quarters,” says Beattie.
“But they have also improved defensively. There were questions around Jalibert’s defensive abilities. There were questions around whether they could contain other sides. They’ve moved up a couple of gears the past year or two.”
And so to the key question. Are they beatable in front of their own fans at a jam-packed Stade Atlantique Bordeaux Métropole?
“The question for Bath is, can they match Bordeaux’s power?” considers Beattie. “There’s one thing competing for 80 minutes in the PREM. It’s another competing against the big dogs from the Top-14.
“There’s levels to this game, and sometimes what you realise is that you can come up against an opposition that can blow you off the field, literally.
“Bath have a great squad, even without Max Ojomoh and Joe Cokanasiga. But do they have the physicality to mix it for 80 minutes when the likes of Ben Tameifuna, with his ability to obliterate opponents, are coming off the Bordeaux bench?
“I know who I think the favourites are, but I’m also a huge admirer of Van Graan and the way Bath go about their business.
“I know they can win the game. But I think if this game is played 10 times, Bordeaux run out winners in eight of them.”
Premier Sports is the home of Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup in the UK and Ireland – with every minute live action from four thrilling semi-finals this weekend plus Finals weekend in Bilbao on May 22/23. Tune into Premier Sports 1 from 2pm on Saturday for a full hour of build-up ahead of Leinster v RC Toulon plus on Sunday Bordeaux-Bègles v Bath (Premier Sports 1 at 2pm). To join in www.premiersports.com from just £11.99 a month @PremSportsTV