Leinster's wait for a fifth Investec Champions Cup continues, and on the evidence of this afternoon, it could go on even longer.
Leo Cullen’s side were destroyed by a rampant Bordeaux-Begles, who were utterly dominant as they defended their title, with a 41-19 win at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao.
It’s a fifth defeat in the final for Leinster since the last of their four titles in 2018, and while those previous final losses were competitive matches decided on fine margins, this was no such thing.
Leinster had no answers for the pace and skill of their opponents, whose relentless energy under the blazing sun left Leinster chasing shadows in the first half, as they carved up Jacques Nienaber’s defence for five tries in the half, before cruising their way to a second Champions Cup title.
As good as Bordeaux were, they were taking advantage of Leinster errors rather than creating things from nothing; infringements gave them early access to the 22, and penalty advantage allowed them to take risks to devastating effect for multiple tries.
Then there were the sloppy mistakes. Hugo Keenan let a ball run dead after it had touched a Leinster player, which gave Bordeaux a platform for their second try, while Harry Byrne will have nightmares about his intercept try right on half time, although the game was arguably over by then anyway.
Tommy O’Brien’s early try was as good as it got for Leinster, as Maxime Lucu and Pablo Uberti both crossed to score, before two tries from the prolific Louis Bielle-Biarrey, and from there they were in cruise control.
Second half tries for Joe McCarthy and Garry Ringrose avoided the scoreline getting out of hand, but there was never a sense of a comeback on the cards, as Bordeaux completed the French double over the Irish provinces, after Friday night’s Challenge Cup.
Just like Ulster last night, Leinster landed the first punch before their opponents unleashed on them.
A maul turnover and big carries from Robbie Henshaw, Caelan Doris and Josh van der Flier got them moving into the 22, and after 19 hard phases it was quick hands from Garry Ringrose to O’Brien (below), with the winger diving over in the corner, and the conversion from Byrne making it 7-0.
Bordeaux came flying back as they got Bielle-Biarrey and Uberti into space, and while Cameron Woki had a try ruled out by the TMO, they did get their equalising score on 13 minutes.
They had been playing with penalty advantage before the disallowed try, and after another penalty followed, Carlu Sadie’s five-metre tap and go set the tone, before Lucu spotted a gap to dive under the posts and make it 7-7.
On 17 minutes the defending champions hit the front, as some good luck fell on their side. Bielle-Biarrey’s chip over the top ran out over the dead ball line but clipped a Leinster player along the way, and from the five-metre scrum the French side earned a penalty advantage before spraying the ball wide to Uberti, whose second try, converted by Lucu, made it 14-7.
A water break at the end of the first quarter still couldn’t settle Leinster down, and when Van der Flier’s steal at a breakdown was spilled by Byrne, Bordeaux had another opportunity to attack, which they executed to perfection.
Another penalty advantage afforded them the opportunity to move the ball wide to the right touchline, before coming straight back to the left, with Bielle-Biarrey skipping inside Thomas Clarkson and Gibson-Park for the try, which Lucu converted to make it 21-7 with 23 minutes played.
Leinster came back down the pitch to earn a five metre scrum in prime attacking position, but after a sustained block of phases, a knock-on from Conan ended the attack, to an eruption of noise from the UBB supporters.
Leinster were on the ropes, and Bordeaux went for the knockout in the five minutes before half time, with two tries putting them out of sight.
First, Damian Penaud’s clever grubber from a breaking ball landed into space, and the bounce went against Gibson-Park and sat up perfectly for the French centre, who offloaded to Bielle-Biarrey for a breakaway try.
It looked like they would have a 21-point lead at the break, but Moefana had other ideas, and the centre made a perfect defensive read just outside his own 22, intercepting Byrne’s pass to gallop 75 metres make it 35-7 at the break.
The second half started brightly for Leinster as Bordeaux scrum-half Lucu was sent to the sin-bin for a horse-collar grab on Joe McCarthy, and two minutes later the Leinster second row took advantage when he dived over from close range for a try, although Ciarán Frawley – on in place of Byrne – hit the post with the conversion, leaving it 35-12.
Things could have got interesting on the 50-minute mark when O’Brien worked his way into a two-on-one situation off a clever strike play, but his pass to Rieko Ioane was intercepted by Salesi Yayasi to deny another try before Lucu’s return from the sin-bin.
With 20 minutes to play, Lucu tagged on another three points to the Bordeaux lead with a straightforward penalty, after James Ryan had been penalized for a high tackle, and he landed another from just inside his own half soon after, with a 22-point buffer to bring into the final quarter of an hour.
With the game sewn up, Bordeaux took their foot off the pedal down the stretch, and after a series of penalties Ringrose forced his way over for a third Leinster try, with Frawley’s conversion making it 41-19.
Bordeaux played the final seven minutes with 14 players after loosehead prop Ugo Boniface was shown yellow for a cheap shot on Ryan at a ruck, but it did little to dampen the celebrations on another great day for the French club.
Scorers
Leinster: Tries: Tommy O’Brien, Joe McCarthy, Garry Ringrose
Cons: Harry Byrne (1), Ciarán Frawley (1)
Bordeaux-Begles: Tries: Louis Bielle-Biarrey (2) Maxime Lucu, Pablo Uberti, Yoram Moefana
Cons: Maxime Lucu (5)
Pens: Maxime Lucu (2)
Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Rieko Ioane; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tom Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (for Sheehan, 53), Paddy McCarthy (for Porter, 62), Tadhg Furlong (for Clarkson, 44), Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan (for Conan, 59), Luke McGrath, Ciarán Frawley (for Byrne, 44), Jamie Osborne (for Henshaw, 50).
Bordeaux-Begles: Salesi Rayasi; Pablo Uberti, Damian Penaud, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu (capt); Jefferson Poirot, Maxime Lamothe, Carlü Sadie; Boris Palu, Adam Coleman; Pierre Bochaton, Cameron Woki, Marko Gazzotti.
Replacements: Gaetan Barlot (for Lamothe, 54), Ugo Boniface (for Poirot, 48), Ben Tameifuna (for Sadie, 48), Lachie Swinton (for Coleman, 46), Temo Matiu (for Bochaton, 10-17 and Woki, 50), Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer (for Gazzotti, 54), Arthur Retiere (for Uberti, 63), Hugo Reus (for Jalibert 70).
Referee: Karl Dickson (Eng).
