{"id":467400,"date":"2026-05-26T07:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/467400\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:34:12","slug":"gerry-thornley-a-deflating-and-damaging-weekend-for-leinster-ulster-and-irish-rugby-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/467400\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerry Thornley: A deflating and damaging weekend for Leinster, Ulster and Irish rugby \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bordeaux B\u00e8gles<\/a> players stayed on in Bilbao after retaining the Champions Cup<\/a> on Saturday. Judging by their victorious walk through the city\u2019s airport the next morning as the wheelchair-bound Cameron Woki held the trophy, they had understandably enjoyed a good night.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the squad were greeted by a crowd estimated between 40,000 and 50,000 for an open-top bus parade through Bordeaux to the hotel de ville for a mayoral reception. Head coach Yannick Bru, captain Maxime Lucu et al then travelled on to the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which had been packed for a large-screen viewing of Saturday\u2019s final, and was again for this homecoming.<\/p>\n

This echoed the celebratory reception afforded Ronan O\u2019Gara and his La Rochelle squad after their back-to-back triumphs, and for UBB\u2019s victorious homecoming at this point a year ago; two hungry clubs enjoying long-awaited success. By contrast, the Leinster<\/a> squad flew home after the final, as had Ulster<\/a> on Friday, presumably all part of the IRFU<\/a>\/provincial cost-pruning.<\/p>\n

But stop for a moment and consider the scale of the La Rochelle and UBB homecomings. Would there have been any kind of open-top bus parade for Leinster had they ended their eight-year search for a fifth star? Does the old Heineken Cup even resonate as it did when Munster<\/a> fans filled O\u2019Connell Street in Limerick for the 2006 final in Cardiff? No, the sad truth is it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Leaving the San Mam\u00e9s Stadium at 9.45pm on Saturday evening, the cooler temperatures would have better suited the Leinster players, but the 3.45pm kick-off local time was due to avoid a clash with the closing ceremony of the Cannes film festival. How very French.<\/p>\n

But therein lies the rub. The Champions Cup final was televised live on France TV, which is free to air, as well as beIN Sports. So are selected Top 14 matches in every round. French club rugby is reaching out to a massive mainstream audience. Their players are identifiable. Only Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 is bigger than Antoine Dupont, and Louis Bielle-Biarrey has moved into that firmament.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Owen Doyle: Referees get an armchair ride as Leinster and Ulster crash and burnOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Thanks to the deals struck by the EPCR and URC for Irish provincial games, and the priorities of RT\u00c9<\/a> and Virgin Media TV<\/a>, the provinces and their players have nothing like the same reach in Ireland. In fact, they probably have a bigger reach in France.<\/p>\n

\"BordeauxBordeaux B\u00e8gles’ Louis Bielle-Biarrey goes past Hugo Keenan of Leinster during the Champions Cup final at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

The rise of UBB is typical of how the Top 14 dwarfs Ligue 1, which is the plaything of the Qatari-owned PSG, who have won 12 of the last 14 titles. It also dwarfs the URC and the Premiership.<\/p>\n

The latest broadcast rights deal for the Top 14 and ProD2 deal between Canal+ and the LNR (Ligue Nationale de Rugby) will increase to \u20ac696.8 million from the 2027-2028 season until 2031-2032. Valued at \u20ac128.7 million per season, the contract marks a 13.3 per cent increase from their previous agreement and secures exclusive live coverage of all matches.<\/p>\n

Yet it is a little misleading of Leo Cullen<\/a> to say Leinster are competing against French juggernauts. That might have been true a decade or so ago when French rugby was once awash with foreign A-listers such as Bryan Habana, who helped Mourad Boudjellal\u2019s big-spending Toulon team of galacticos to three successive Heineken Cups. Less so now.<\/p>\n

UBB\u2019s salary cap is \u20ac12.5 million. That places real restrictions on them. It\u2019s why they had to move Damian Penaud into centre after Nicolas Depoort\u00e8re was injured, and sacrificed Jonny Gray to sign Hugo Reus when Joey Carbery was sidelined for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Another game changer in 2009-2010 was the LNR\u2019s introduction of the JIFF rules (Joueurs Issus des Fili\u00e8res de Formation) quota system for home-grown players, which has increased steadily over the years.<\/p>\n

France never reached one of the first 10 under-20 World Cup finals. Since 2018 they have won three of the last five, and they have 14 clubs to blood them. UBB\u2019s 21-year-old number eight Marko Gazzotti was part of France\u2019s 2023 under-20 triumph.<\/p>\n

UBB also make astute signings. Salesi Rayasi was bought from relegated Vannes. Adam Coleman, now Tongan after being discarded by Australia and who caused such critical damage to the Leinster lineout, was snapped up from London Irish.<\/p>\n

\"Leinster'sLeinster’s Dan Sheehan tackles Union Bordeaux B\u00e8gles’ Salesi Rayasi during the Champions Cup final at San Mames Stadium, Bilbao. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n

French clubs now invest money like never before elsewhere. Also walking through Bilbao airport was a UBB backup staff of 28, be they assistant coaches, video analysts, physios, rehab coaches, doctors, nutritionists. It was akin to the array of back-room staff which joined in with the Arsenal players for the Premier League trophy celebrations.<\/p>\n

Like other Top 14 clubs, the 28 come from all corners of the rugby world, including Clare\u2019s Noel McNamara. French clubs are now receptive to outside expertise and rotate big squads, so have never been fitter.<\/p>\n

The IRFU and the provinces are coy about their annual playing budgets, but it\u2019s estimated that the playing budget for Leinster is about \u20ac10 million.<\/p>\n

Leinster\u2019s match-day squad boasted 14 Lions plus a 78-times capped All Black, as well as Caelan Doris, who would have captained the Lions but for a cruel injury. It also boasted 789 Test caps to UBB\u2019s precise tally of 300.<\/p>\n

The heat was a factor. McNamara said the real-feel temperature for the Champions Cup final was nearer 40 degrees, which makes Leinster\u2019s longer warm-up, by about six or seven minutes, all the more puzzling.<\/p>\n

But it cannot disguise that UBB played with more energy and cutting edge, nor account for Leinster\u2019s litany of errors in the first half especially. Their display simply did not add up to the sum of its parts. And deep down they\u2019ll know that better than anyone.<\/p>\n

That was a deflating and damaging weekend for Leinster and Ulster, and by extension Irish rugby. Ulster and Leinster conceded 100 points between them. UBB also saw off the champions of France, England and the URC, in again going unbeaten as top seeds, yet McNamara also said that UBB\u2019s ceiling is \u201cfar, far away\u201d.<\/p>\n

After that weekend the thought of Leinster, never mind the other three Irish provinces, winning another Champions Cup to add to the triumph of 2018 has never felt further away.<\/p>\n

gerry.thornley@irishtimes.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bordeaux B\u00e8gles players stayed on in Bilbao after retaining the Champions Cup on Saturday. Judging by their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[121813,32728,28454,61,60,12917,11287,28577,11897,6085,112,31398,907],"class_list":["post-467400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bordeaux-begles","tag-champions-cup","tag-connacht-rugby","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irfu","tag-leinster-rugby","tag-leo-cullen","tag-munster-rugby","tag-rte","tag-sports","tag-ulster-rugby","tag-virgin-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467400","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=467400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}