{"id":460308,"date":"2026-05-21T16:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/460308\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:19:11","slug":"garry-ringrose-fine-margins-will-decide-leinsters-fate-in-final-against-bordeaux-begles-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/460308\/","title":{"rendered":"Garry Ringrose: Fine margins will decide Leinster\u2019s fate in final against Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traditions are important when it comes to a final. The set piece took on a familiar format. A player, Garry Ringrose, opposed the media, who were aligned in the shape of a crescent around a boardroom table, separated by a humongous bowl of fruit; a Carmen Miranda-style buffet. Everyone takes a deep breath. <\/p>\n

The years slip by, but conversational touchpoints remain the same. The talk of lessons, of harnessing and rebranding disappointment, the legacy scarring, the fresh resolve wrapped in a hope that it\u2019ll be different this time, all form part of the narrative. It must be that way. <\/p>\n

Otherwise, what\u2019s the point? Give up? Leinster<\/a> to their credit have never done that, instead dusting themselves off. Again. And again. And again. Samuel Beckett\u2019s words: \u2018Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.\u2019 They could represent a slogan for Leinster\u2019s European misadventure. <\/p>\n

Leo Cullen\u2019s charges will try and bridge an eight-year Champions Cup hiatus to the province\u2019s last success in the tournament, coincidentally at Saturday\u2019s venue, the San Mam\u00e9s stadium in Bilbao. Four times since 2018, Leinster players have stood on a pitch and watched opponents lift the trophy. That sight can\u2019t get any easier.<\/p>\n

Players don\u2019t project negativity. Once understood, it helps to explain why they look at the glass being half full. It\u2019s a safety mechanism. Ringrose, when asked about embracing finals week, replied: \u201cI guess understanding the work that goes on in getting us to this point makes you savour every bit of a week like this, to have this opportunity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve mentioned before about the effort from the coaches, backroom, medics, all the staff to get this chance. The players as well. There\u2019s a lot of work that goes in and there\u2019s a bit of luck as well. So (we) try to soak up every bit of it, try to enjoy the week as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s Garry Ringrose. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Gordon D\u2019Arcy: Leinster\u2019s chances of Champions Cup success lie largely with two playersOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Lions and Ireland centre contended that it\u2019s important to sift through the good and bad and take with you what might be useful when opportunity presents itself once again. There is the usual chat about focusing on the process and not the outcome. It\u2019s a belief that fully investing in the preparation is the way to go.<\/p>\n

His memories of 2018, the victory over Racing 92, are superficial. \u201cI don\u2019t think I left the hotel too much. I remember the stadium and the tunnel and the atmosphere. It\u2019s a cool stadium and the crowd is right on top of you. In terms of those specifics, even seeing a few videos of it, it triggers a few memories.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we heard at the start of that year that the final was going to be in Bilbao, we thought the sun might be out and then on the day it was lashing rain. There\u2019s a bit of everything over there this week weather-wise.\u201d Rain is forecast on Saturday. An omen. Players can\u2019t afford to subscribe.<\/p>\n

Ringrose continued: \u201cOur experiences of finals is that they can fall on fine margins. They can be high-scoring or low-scoring, so we\u2019ll have to deal with whatever comes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bordeaux-B\u00e8gles, the reigning champions, are a team that\u2019s easy on the eye. But it\u2019s not all gung-ho rugby; they straddle the fine line between talent and work-rate, drawing on both qualities. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have individuals that can do things that very few people in world rugby can do,\u201d Ringrose said. \u201cWatching them, they earn the right to create those moments off the back of the work they do as a team. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching them against the Bulls at altitude and they were winning the battles that you see some teams struggle with over there. I guess it\u2019s a mental thing as well as a physical thing, but that shows their intent and work for each other, which then creates moments and rightly so are admired and applauded but it\u2019s off the back of hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve an unbelievably good kicking game, but then if you don\u2019t focus on the front line (defence), they\u2019ll get through your line that way which is tough to deal with.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ringrose is likely to find himself up against Damian Penaud, repackaged as an outside centre from his traditional wing berth following an injury to French international Nicolas Depoortere. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Penaud scores an) unbelievable amount of tries, but it\u2019s probably the unseen work that he does off the ball, one of those Chris Ashton type players, who seems to know where the ball is going to be, and reads the players around him well. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd defensively, obviously, he\u2019s a big man, strong, fronts up. His pace, he\u2019s hard to get around too. (He\u2019s an) unbelievably good player and it\u2019s exciting to get a crack at playing him.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that was nearly it. A final message? <\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy the week as much as you can but get the work done too. Enjoying can look different to everyone. But yeah, it\u2019s always rung true to embrace the opportunity as much as we can.\u201d <\/p>\n

Words to live by. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018We\u2019re going to have to put in a big defensive effort\u2019: Adam Coleman relishing Leinster testOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Traditions are important when it comes to a final. The set piece took on a familiar format. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[121813,32728,83302,61,60,11287,28577,112],"class_list":["post-460308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bordeaux-begles","tag-champions-cup","tag-garry-ringrose","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-leo-cullen","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}