Comment: Leinster’s ‘drive for five’ goes wrong as Bordeaux-Bègles prove they are no ‘fleeting star’
Bordeaux-Begles players lifting the Investec Champions Cup trophy with an inset of Harry Byrne
The drive for five was not meant to look like this. Four stars on the Leinster shirt, five final defeats now since the boys in blue lifted the Investec Champions Cup.
Last time at the San Mamés Stadium, they were kings of Europe, celebrating tying Toulouse for the most titles. Anything and everything seemed possible for the pride of Dublin.
Yet back in Bilbao eight years on, there were only tears for souvenirs as another layer of final heartache was added to 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
‘We spoke of not being a fleeting star’
Leinster, despite a brave second half, were blown away by Bordeaux, beaten 41-19. To add insult to injury, the inspiration behind the holders’ emphatic title defence was an Irishman.
“We spoke of not being a fleeting star, of making our star shine and representing the town,” Noel McNamara, Bordeaux’s Irish attack coach said. “And when Rory McIlroy won the Masters, we spoke a little bit about [going back to back].
Bordeaux-Bègles crush Leinster to secure second successive Investec Champions Cup title
“There’s a fantastic video after that in which he said ‘good players want to win one, really good players, great players want to win more than one’. I think that resonated with the players.”
So it was that, on a steaming afternoon in Basque Country, Bordeaux were simply too hot to handle. Before half-time they scored five tries. It was akin to winning the Masters before Amen Corner.
Leinster can console themselves that nobody in Europe would have lived with Yannick Bru’s side on the day. But when the dust settles, they won’t find too much solace in that.
“If you’re a Leinster fan, you’re asking serious questions why a team stacked with internationals is 35-7 down at half time,” former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio said on Premier Sports.
Many of those supporters will have been in Newcastle when Leinster gave up a 10-point lead to lose to Saracens in the 2019 showpiece. They will have been in Marseille when La Rochelle beat them with a try in the final minute three years later.
They will have seen their side blow a 17-point advantage to lose to La Rochelle 12 months later and then miss a last-gasp drop goal and lose in extra time to Toulouse at Tottenham in 2024.
This one, in many ways, was easier to explain. For Bordeaux were red hot. But, as Dallaglio says, for a side stacked with so many Test stars to be out for the count at half-time is really not good enough.
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Leinster had to be perfect to stand a chance against this team. They knew it, we knew it. And when Hugo Keenan dropped the first kick aimed at him in the opening minute that option was gone.
To be fair, they pulled themselves together to score first, driving to the killing zone where Garry Ringrose found Tommy O’Brien on the outside to leave Maxime Lucu grasping at thin air.
But it was pretty much the last time they threatened, other than when Lucu this time grasped at thin hair and was sent to the sin bin, leaving Joe McCarthy, whose mullet he tugged, to score the Dubliners’ second try.
‘It offered Leinster a stay of execution. Nothing more’
In between the scrum-half’s two grabs, Bordeaux scored five unanswered tries in as devastating a first-half passage of play as has been witnessed in a Champions Cup final, and probably any other final for that matter.
Lucu, player of the final for a second straight year, started it off with a sniping break under the posts after Cameron Woki had been denied Bordeaux’s first try in controversial fashion; referee Karl Dickson awarding the score, only for TMO Marius van der Westhuizen to overturn it without the clear evidence the protocol demands.
It offered Leinster a stay of execution. Nothing more. Lucu made no mistake moments later, then Harry Byrne kicked the restart dead and, from the lineout, Matthieu Jalibert and Salesi Rayasi worked Pablo Uberti over on the right with consummate ease.
Bordeaux were only getting started. They might have been fortunate Keenan’s fingertips were adjudged to have brushed an overcooked Bielle-Biarrey kick, but what followed was sheer class.
Getting the ball back, the France wing this time made no mistake; stepping inside two players before beating a third to the line. Just for good measure, he bagged a second after Damian Penaud hacked through, regathered and gave the pass.
Desperate times brought desperate play from Leinster. O’Brien made a mess of a kick, which Jalibert returned with interest. Then Byrne threw an intercept which Yoram Moefana turned into another seven points.
Leinster deserve credit for their refusal to be humiliated. At 35-7 that appeared a racing certainty. Their pride would not allow it. You don’t get medals for winning second halves with the cause already lost, but you do garner respect.
Credit to Ciarán Frawley for coming off the bench and getting a tune out of a shellshocked team. For Leinster dousing Bordeaux’s fire, albeit aided by yellow cards for Lucu and Ugo Boniface.
Ultimately, though, their inability to manipulate the Bordeaux defence when the contest was live, to match the physicality of the French, to win enough collisions then play with any sort of accuracy, told its own story.
The drive for five will have to wait another year. Right now, you might not want to bet against Bordeaux beating Leinster to it.