Leinster’s road to redemption returns to Bilbao eight years later
Leinster players celebrate after their Champions Cup semi-final victory over Toulon. Photo: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo.
Saturday’s Champions Cup Final will either be an era-defining game for Leo Cullen’s Leinster, or just another let-down in a long list of disappointments for the province.
The road to another Investec Champions Cup final has felt different than previous years. No longer an imperious, unstoppable beast, Leinster this season have stuttered and stumbled their way to the showpiece decider.
The weight of expectation grows heavier with every passing year and the narrative around the 2026 final feels different than before. This is no longer just about adding a fifth star – it has become about validation, redemption, and shaking off the ‘bottlers’ tag that has started to stick over recent years.
Leinster’s last Champions Cup title came in 2018, when they were led by the likes of Johnny Sexton, Rob Kearney, Cian Healy and captain Isa Nacewa, who slotted a penalty two minutes from time as Leinster kicked their way to a 15-12 victory over Racing.
Several Leinster players remain from that season, including six starters in the final - Jordan Larmour, Gary Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Luke McGrath, Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan; and another three from the bench that day - Andrew Porter, Jack Conan and Jamison Gibson-Park.
There are also a number of players from the wider squad in 2018 still here eight years later - Josh Van Der Flier, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Will Connors, Max Deegan and Ciaran Frawley.
World-class operators such as Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane have all come into the fold since then as well.
Yet none of these players have been able to replicate what was achieved in 2018. Leinster have established themselves as perennial contenders, but without the silverware to reflect their dominance it counts for very little.
Defending champions in 2019, Leinster overcame Ulster and Toulouse on their way to the final, where they came up short against Saracens.
The London club then knocked Leinster out in the 2020 quarter-finals, before the rivalry with La Rochelle began in 2021, with Ronan O’Gara’s French juggernaut beating Leinster in the semi-finals.
Leo Cullen then guided his side to three consecutive finals - all unsuccessful – as La Rochell won by three points in 2022 in Marseille before O’Gara’s men won again in 2023, beating Leinster by just a single point – with the final being played in Dublin only adding to Leinster’s pain.
There was a modicum of retribution in 2024 when Leinster bested La Rochelle in the quarters, but when five-time champions, Toulouse faced four-time champions, Leinster in London, it was the French side who added another star – with Leo Cullen’s side taking the game to extra time, but unable to get the job done.
Leinster still had an air of invincibility about them last season and were expected to set up a 2025 final with the emerging force of Bordeaux Begles. But Northampton had not read the script as the Saints won the Dublin semi-final 37-34; a result that has put Cullen, his coaches and his squad under the microscope like never before.
Whether it is the psychological trauma of the last seven years, or having …. Players away with the British and Irish Lions in Australia, Leinster have just not been the same this season.
They began their Champions Cup campaign with a routine win over Harlequins at the Aviva; but they struggled through the rest of the pool, with a narrow to victory away to Leicester Tigers, followed by a one-point win over arch rivals La Rochelle in Dublin before ending with a hard-fought victory away to the already eliminated Bayonne.
The knockout rounds have also been less convincing than we are used to, with Leinster making hard work of it at home to both Edinburgh and Sale Sharks before doing just enough to get past Toulon in the semi-finals.
Bordeaux, on the other hand, began the pool with a win away to the Bulls, before scoring 50 points back-to-back at home to the Scarlets and then Northampton Saints, topping the group with a win away at Bristol Bears.
Bordeaux brough that impressive form into the knockouts, beating Leicester 64-14 before French champions, Toulouse in the quarter-finals and English champions, Bath in the semis.
Leinster may have fat on their side.
San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao was the venue the last time Cullen’s men won this competition in 2018. That victory came against the fashionable French club of the day, Racing, a label that could be attributed to Bordeaux today.
2018 also carried a sense of retribution for Leinster, as it does in 2026. The province won this trophy for the first time in 2009 and became back-to-back champions in 2011 and 2012 before then going five years without returning to the final.
Looking ahead to Saturday, Leinster’s ability to dictate tempo of the final, dominate possession, and stretch Bordeaux’s defences will hinge on several factors.
The French side are five-point favourites with the bookies at time of writing, but Caelan Doris could get his hands on the cup if his side tick several boxes: accurate kicking from Gibson-Park and Harry Byrne; the players’ ability to execute Jacques Nienaber’s defensive plan; an 80-minute performance at the breakdown; and the bench being able to add that extra punch in the final quarter.
Yet all this may not be enough.
The reigning, defending champions, Bordeaux boast a squad of world class internationals, including Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Damian Penaud, Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu, Ben Tameifuna, Cameron Woki and Yoram Moefana to name but a few.
Even if Leinster do everything right on the day, Bordeaux have enough magic in their backline that anything can happen at any time from anywhere on the pitch. One stray bounce of the ball could decide this final, but it is the champions who have more players who can spark into life and take advantage.
Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien, Gary Ringrose, Jamie Osborne, Rieko Ioane; Harry Byrne, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh Van Der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Ronan Kelleher, Jerry Cahir, Tom Clarkson, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ciaran Frawley, Robbie Henshaw.
