Champions Cup final: How Bordeaux are leading French rugby’s golden era
Six Nations. Champions Cup. Chalenç cup.
Bordeaux Begles’ demolition job over Leinster completed the French men’s rugby teams’ clean sweep of Europe.
Leinster, a team filled to the brim with Irish internationals, had no answer; because Bordeaux became the sixth team to retain the European championship by achieving a 41-19 victory in Bilbao.
This came less than 24 hours after Montpellier produced a similar performance against Ulster in the Challenge Cup final, which saw them win the competition for the third time.
Earlier in the year, following a dramatic end to a thrilling tournament, France also retained their Six Nations title by defeating Ireland.
According to Irish attack coach Noel McNamara, inspiration for Bordeaux came from Rory McIlroy, who won the Masters for the second time in April, backing up his historic bid for the Green Jacket.
The irony of using a Northern Irish player as a motivational tool will not go unnoticed.
“We talked about Rory McIlroy before the quarter-final against Toulouse,” McNamara told the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast.
“There’s a nice commercial that says good players want one Green Jacket, really good players want two, and we’ve got great players.
“That’s what makes rugby great. They decided one wasn’t enough. The challenge for us now is we’re a young club, we’re a new club and we’re continuing to set that standard.”
