CHAMPIONS CUP FINAL: Underdogs Leinster have the game to upset Bordeaux

The injury to RG Snyman means there is no South African player representation in this year’s Investec Champions Cup final beyond the formidable frame of Bordeaux-Begles tighthead Carlu Sadie, but there will be several people with connections to this country wielding influence.

The obvious one is Leinster’s senior assistant Jacques Nienaber, who is of course, a World Cup-winning coach after serving as the Springbok head coach when the South Africans won their fourth global title in France in 2023.

Against a Bordeaux team that features game-breakers everywhere and the pace of Louis Bielle-Barry on the wing, Nienaber’s defensive system is going to be key to the Irish team’s chances of getting a fifth star on their jersey to denote the number of European titles they’ve won.

But there are also several members in the opposition coaching staff who either are South African or who have connections to South Africa, having coached here. Indeed, if you are looking for evidence that the problems at the Hollywoodbets Sharks over the past decade or so haven’t been so much the coaches that have passed through the revolving door at Kings Park, but the people who have employed them, then take a look at some of the Bordeaux-Begles CVs.

Their head coach, Yannick Bru, was the Sharks’ breakdown coach a few years back. Yes, mainly on a consultancy basis, but he was there. And Noel McNamara, a big part of the Bordeaux success as an attack coach and sought after by international teams and Munster, who made him an offer he has just turned down, was also one of the back-room people at the Sharks for a while.

Indeed, it was when McNamara came to the Sharks that he and Bru first made contact and it was a start of a flourishing relationship which led to a Champions Cup title last year and most pundits will tell you the smart money is on them going back-to-back in Bilbao, Spain, in Saturday’s final.

SOWERBY AND ADAMS HAVE BECOME BORDEAUX COACHING STALWARTS

Then there are the two dinkum South Africans in the Bordeaux coaching staff - former Sharks No 8 Shaun Sowerby, who has long been a forwards coach at Bordeaux and is doing an excellent job, and Heini Adams, who it feels like has been with the French giants forever, having started long before they started their growth to what they’ve become.

What they’ve become is favourites to retain the most prestigious club trophy in world rugby, but don’t bet your house on them living up to that tag. While they have swept all before them in the competition this year and have generally been more comprehensive winners in their games than Leinster have, the bookies that give Leinster a four and a half point start probably have it right.

⭐️ 𝐖𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒 ⭐️

Leinster Rugby go for star No 5 and UBB look to make it back to back #InvestecChampionsCup victories 😮‍💨

Who are you backing? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/wpq3SOD1C1
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) May 3, 2026

MCNAMARA’S ATTACK VERSUS NIENABER’S DEFENCE

In other words, they are saying it will be a close game, and a close game can normally go both ways. The game should be well worth watching and it presents a classic example of the sometimes over-simplified “it’s our attack against your defence” narrative, although in this case it should really be “our attack off transition and ability to create out of chaos against your structure”.

The structure, of course, being Leinster, who certainly are no slouches when it comes to attack, but do it in a very different way to Bordeaux, who will be relying on Leinster to make the kind of mistakes that they may not make as readily as other teams would.

Which is what gives Leinster a great chance of making it fourth time lucky as they head into their fourth final in the space of five seasons, needing to break a three-match losing sequence. Two of those were to La Rochelle, and one more recently to Toulouse, and all three of those games were by the narrowest of margins. The 2024 final against Toulouse might not look like it was close, because in the end, the French team won by more than a score, but it was in extra time they drew away. The scores were level after fulltime.

NEUTRAL VENUE ROBS BORDEAUX OF EXTRA MAN

There is no denying that Leinster lack the authority they had when Johnny Sexton was their captain and game driver, as do the Ireland national team, but they still have 18 Ireland internationals plus All Black Rieko Ioane in their ranks for Saturday’s game. Bordeaux have a healthy spread of international players to and match winners in halfbacks Maxim Lucu and Mahtieu Jallibert, plus Bielle-Barry and Damian Penaud, not to mention a formidable and bulky pack well coached by Sowerby.

What Bordeaux will miss in this game, though, is their 16th man. No, that is not a reference to the anonymous French television producers that are accused by UK and Irish scribes of turning a blind eye to French infringements that should be relayed to the on-field referees, but just to the volatile and voluble support every French team enjoys at home.

The neutral venue is a leveller, and Leinster appear to have started to pick up form at the right time. My gut says they may just sneak this one and end the heartache they’ve suffered in recent years.

ULSTER OUT TO END 20-YEAR DROUGHT ON FRIDAY NIGHT

And it could well be an Irish double in the EPCR finals weekend as Ulster have set a lot of store on winning Friday night’s Challenge Cup final against Montpellier. They rested most of their top players for last weekend’s final Vodacom URC league game against Glasgow in Belfast. Having lost that game, they have to win the Challenge Cup to qualify for next year’s Champions Cup.

That will be huge motivation for them, but so will something else - they haven’t tasted any kind of silverware for 20 years. For a proud province like Ulster, that is a long time, and that level of determination and the passion that comes with it could just drive them to what would be a popular victory.