Bordeaux-Begles will start as outright favourites to retain their Investec Champions Cup crown in the final in the Spanish city of Bilbao on 23 May but they won’t be getting the leg up they get when they play in France in front of their home fans.
As expected, both the French team and Leinster advanced to the final, with Bordeaux’s win over Bath not being quite as convincing or as comfortable as the 12 point winning margin might suggest it was, while it was only in the last minutes of the game that Leinster were really challenged by Toulon in Dublin.
Leinster will fly the URC flag in Spain, as will their fellow Irish team Ulster the night before the grand final in the main event when they meet Montpellier, who overcame a plucky fight from another URC team, the Dragons, in the EPCR Challenge Cup final.
Once again the semifinal round of both competitions was high on quality, but particularly the elite Champions Cup games, with the atmosphere at the grounds and emotion that went into them a great advert for why it is seen as the top club competition in the world and why South Africans should want their teams to go deeper than they currently do.
BATH RIGHT TO FEEL AGGRIEVED
Bordeaux haven’t been in stellar form in their domestic league, the Top 14, but have mostly been imperious in the Champions Cup as they look to follow up their maiden win in the competition last year. They didn’t disappoint in the Bordeaux semifinal, but Bath should feel rightly aggrieved for some appalling lapses on the part of the refereeing team.
There were three clear head shots on the Bath No 8 Alfie Barbeary that were not reviewed and which could have had a big impact on a game that was close for most of the way before Bath eventually ran out of puff - and luck - in the final quarter. The reason they weren’t reviewed was possibly because French television did not play the replays.
“There were three head shots on Alfie, in the 19th, 23rd, and 42nd minute,” Bath’s South African head of rugby opined in the post-match press conference.
“I thought Nika (Amushukeli, the referee) did a fantastic job, and I thought Ben (Whitehouse) the TMO did the best he could with the angles available to him. For such an amazing contest, we need to make sure they’ve got the footage they need.”
Complaints about a perceived selectiveness of television producers in France when it comes incidents that might negatively impact their teams is nothing new. There were many pundits who felt the DHL Stormers were done in a few weeks ago when the necessary angle that would have proved they’d scored a winning try in the round of 16 game against Toulon was not forthcoming.
Union Bordeaux-Bègles 🆚 Leinster
— Six Nations (FR) (@SixNations_FR) May 3, 2026
Des allures de France-Irlande en finale de Champions Cup 🔥#GreatnessM6N #Since1883 pic.twitter.com/7PVvggrDkK
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD IN SPAIN
That and the voluble crowd support the French teams enjoy is though the reason that teams need to avoid having to play play-off games away against French teams. Fortunately for Leinster, who have underlined their consistency in the competition by making their fourth final in the space of five years, the final will be at a neutral venue which should level up the playing field.
While Bath had good reason to feel aggrieved, and those head shots weren’t the only things that were missed on a day where the 50/50 calls went to the hosts, there shouldn’t be too much argument against the perception that the best team won. Bath are not far away, and were still in the game deep into the second half, but they simply lacked the ruthless efficiency of their opponents.
Bath spent way too much time in the Bordeaux 22 metre area given the scant reward they got for that occupation of Bordeaux territory, whereas Bordeaux tended to make the most of the opportunities that came their way.
Their captain Maxime Lucu produced a sublime match winning performance at scrumhalf that underlined the incredible depth France have in that position (remember they also have Antoine Dupont) and the flyhalf Mathieu Jailbert was a massive thorn in the side of Bath too.
Bordeaux will head to Spain as the form team against a Leinster side that looked to have their game against Toulon comfortably wrapped up until a last 10 minutes where Toulon found the attacking range they had lacked for most of the game against the excellent Jacques Nienaber inspired Leinster defensive system.
Ben Tameifuna speaks after helping Bordeaux Bègles book a spot in the final 🟣
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) May 3, 2026
"It's incredible. We've had a great season." 🗣️#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/VPc0YrFmpS
LEINSTER HUNGRY TO END THE ANGUISH
Leinster have lost close finals twice to La Rochelle and once to Toulouse in the past four seasons and will desperately be wanting to end the anguish by getting another star on their chest as the second most successful team behind Toulouse in the history of the competition.
They missed the injured Springbok RG Snyman but their scrum did stand up well, Jamison Gibson-Park is always influential at halfback and their international player Rieko Ioane, the All Black wing, was a standout on the day and more than made up for the injury enforced absence of James Lowe.
Leinster don’t quite have the dominating form of seasons past but are a team that aren’t far away from being an Ireland international team and at a neutral venue they will stand a chance in what should be a great final.
Investec Champions Cup semifinal results
Leinster 29 Toulon 25
Bordeaux-Begles 38 Bath 26
EPCR Challenge Cup semifinal results
Ulster 29 Exeter Chiefs 12
Montpellier 18 Dragons 12
Investec Champions Cup final
Bordeaux Begles v Leinster (Bilboa, Saturday 23 May, 4pm)
EPCR Challenge Cup final
Montpellier v Ulster (Bilbao, Friday 22 May)