Bordeaux-Bègles Rout Leinster 41-19 to Retain Investec Champions Cup Title in Bilbao

Bordeaux-Bègles retained the Investec Champions Cup title with a 41-19 victory over Leinster in Bilbao at San Mames Stadium on Saturday, May 23, after leading 35-7 at half-time.

Sky Sports said Leinster moved 7-0 ahead but fell 35-7 behind by the break, with Bordeaux scoring tries through Maxime Lucu, Pablo Uberti, Louis Bielle-Biarrey (two) and Yoram Moefana.

BBC

The BBC described the result as a demolition job, noting Bordeaux scored five tries in a ruthless first-half performance that made the result inevitable with 40 minutes still to play.

Planet Rugby put the first-half output at 35 points to seven at the break, with five tries to one, and said the final score was 41-21.

In the match narrative, Leinster’s Tommy O’Brien scored early in the ninth minute, but Bordeaux kept their heads and extended the lead through Lucu, Bielle-Biarrey and Moefana as the final turned into a one-sided contest.

Bordeaux assistant coach Noel McNamara told the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast that “We spoke about Rory McIlroy in the lead-up to the quarter-final against Toulouse,” framing the club’s push for a second title as driven by motivation and standards.

McNamara added, “Good players win one green jacket, great players win two,” and said “we’ve got fantastic players” as Bordeaux completed the European clean sweep for French men’s rugby teams.

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Leinster captain Caelan Doris, speaking to Premier Sports, said, “You have to credit Bordeaux. Some of their attack in that first half was incredibly hard to deal with,” after Bordeaux’s 35-7 lead at the break.

The Irish Times reported that French media repeated a “don’t be a shooting star” mantra from Laurent Marti, Jefferson Poirot and Yannick Bru, with Bru also saying, “We’re keeping our feet on the ground,” as Leinster were overwhelmed in the final.

The BBC said Bordeaux have now won 16 consecutive Champions Cup matches across two campaigns, and it linked that run to a “very straightforward mindset” and “part of our identity” to celebrate collisions and turnovers as much as tries.

“France’s rugby media glorified Bordeaux’s annihilation of Leinster in Bilbao, celebrating the champions as the new rulers of European rugby and exposing the growing gap between the Top 14, the URC and the English Premiership”

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In the same BBC account, McNamara said the challenge for Bordeaux is that they are “a young club, we’re a new club,” and he pointed to the club’s preparation and “symbiosis” between Maxime Lucu and Matthieu Jalibert.

The Irish Times noted that Bru has now won two Champions Cup titles as both a player and a head coach, while also saying his team were “not quite among the very best yet,” even after the emphatic 41-19 win.

Looking ahead, the BBC framed the stakes for Leinster as a continuing wait for another European star, saying their wait for a fifth European star will go on and that McNamara hoped to see them “back in the fight next year.”

Sky Sports added that Leinster have now lost five Champions Cup finals since 2018 and that this was their heaviest defeat, leaving the Irish province to respond after being “totally outplayed” in the Spanish heat.