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38 - 19
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38 - 28
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29 - 27
FT
57 - 19
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41 - 17
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43 - 40
FT
18 - 9
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28 - 12
FT
Thursday
21:00
Friday
19:30
Friday
19:30
Friday
19:30
Friday
19:30
Friday
20:45
Friday
20:45
Friday
20:45
Friday
20:45
Friday
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Friday
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Friday
21:00

Bordeaux outclass Leinster to go back-to-back

By Angus Opperman
Saturday 23 May 2026

MATCH REPORT: Bordeaux became the fifth team to win back-to-back Champions Cup titles after demolishing Leinster by 41-19 in the Final at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao.

Leinster drew first blood before Bordeaux scored 28 unanswered points in the first half, making life difficult for Leinster to come back.

Leo Cullen’s men will now turn their attention to their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Lions this coming weekend in their quest to retain their title in that tournament.

*To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!

Leinster earned a scrum feed after successfully collapsing Bordeaux’s maul outside of their 22, off which they attacked for 19 phases inside the Bordeaux red zone to set Tommy O’Brien up for the opening score in the corner.

Harry Byrne nailed the conversion to take Leinster 7-0 up after nine minutes.

The defending champions erased the scoreboard doughnut through captain Maxime Lucu, who sniped and scored under the posts after periods of sustained pressure.

The captain converted his own try to level the score after 14 minutes.

Bordeaux took the lead for the first time through a try off set-piece by Pablo Uberti in the 18th minute. Lucu added the extras for a seven-point lead.

The defending champions upped the tempo on attack, leaving Leinster’s defence scrambling and opening up space for Louis Bielle-Biarrey to cross the whitewash after 25 minutes. Lucu’s conversion took Bordeaux two scores ahead.

In a bizarre passage of play involving a charged-down Bordeaux kick by Leinster, set Bielle-Biarrey up to score a brace in the 36th minute, leaving a mountain to climb for Leo Cullen’s men.

Leinster attacked from inside their 22 and advanced into Bordeaux’s half, but Byrne’s pass landed into the hands of Yoram Moefana, who intercepted the ball and ran it clear under the posts.

Lucu added the conversion to etch out a 35-7 lead at halftime.

The match report continues below…

Bordeaux captain Lucu was sent to the sinbin for a hair pull on Joe McCarthy a minute into the second half.

Leinster scored their second try after 45 minutes through McCarthy. Frawley missed the conversion attempt.

Lucu stepped up for two penalty goals to keep the scoreboard ticking over and pull the game away from Leinster in the process.

Leinster put some respect on the scoreboard with their third try through Garry Ringrose in the 71st minute, with Frawley nailing a drop goal conversion to restart play quickly.

Bordeaux went down to 14 players when Ugo Boniface was yellow-carded for a dangerous cleanout in the 73rd minute, but Leinster couldn’t capitalise despite coming close on several occasions towards the end of the match.

Player of the match: Maxime Lucu was outstanding in his leadership and overall kicking game, but our award goes to Pierre Bochaton, who completed 17 tackles in the match.

Scorers

For Leinster:
Tries: O’Brien, McCarthy, Ringrose
Cons: Byrne, Frawley

For Bordeaux-Bègles:
Tries: Lucu, Uberti, Bielle-Biarrey 2, Moefana
Cons: Lucu 5
Pens: Lucu 2

Yellow cards: Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Bègles, 41′ – Unsportsmanlike play – hair pull), Ugo Boniface (Bordeaux-Bègles, 73′ – Dangerous play: illegal cleanout)

Teams

Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Jack Conan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Paddy McCarthy, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Diarmuid Mangan, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Jamie Osborne

Bordeaux-Bègles: 15 Salesi Rayasi, 14 Pablo Uberti, 13 Damian Penaud, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (captain), 8 Marko Gazzotti, 7 Cameron Woki, 6 Pierre Bochaton, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Boris Palu, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Gaetan Barlot, 17 Ugo Boniface, 18 Ben Tameifuna, 19 Lachie Swinton, 20 Temo Matiu, 21 Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 22 Arthur Retiere, 23 Hugo Reus

Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley (England), Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

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