Bordeaux is not just the European Champion Club but also the ‘grand Cité du Vin’ and home to Jacky Lorenzetti’s (Racing 92) four world-class wine chateaux. His d’Issan wines were served at the marriage ceremony of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1172 and for three centuries Bordeaux was part of England! Called the ‘Pearl of Aquitaine’, Bordeaux has been mad for football over many years. However, their brand new City stadium has also been selling out for rugby for nearly a decade and their home ground now hosts the largest rugby crowds in Europe. As European chair in 2015, I watched a domestic semi final weekend in Bordeaux when Toulon, Toulouse, Clermont and Stade Francais contested the play offs in a packed out stadium. It was vintage stuff, and I felt then the power of French rugby. It does not happen overnight, you have to believe and invest and the LNR has done just that.

Bordeaux is built from the bottom up and via a merger with local rivals Bègles by Laurent Marti their President, an outstanding businessman and rugby romantic. I have sat next to him and his team of fellow directors many times and heard the vision. It is not bought in and if even a whiff of that implication reached the banks of the Gironde then I am not surprised that emotions ran high after the final whistle in Cardiff. 

This group of players combine power with pace and entrepreneurial attitude. Mavericks too – Jalibert and Penaud – are feisty and fiery and rugby arrogant. But they have learnt humility the hard way such as being dropped by their National coach for attitude and come back stronger. The game does that to you, the greatest leveller in sport. As for Bielle Biarry, he is a leopard in human form with prodigious talent and a wide-eyed love of the game. He also does the hard yards. Lucu is the impassive Petit Général and Dupont can take his time to recover, this man can play and direct. Yes, I have a bit of a crush on this Bordeaux side and they have unfinished business, that being the dream of overcoming Toulouse in the domestic final after their drubbing last year.

As for the Saints, they could not have done more and with the skills that England must embrace now. How close were they to victory? Pollock could have scored twice but Bordeaux were always going to be a step ahead and also blew two or more scoring chances which would have taken them to 40. I have devoted many words of praise to this special club which should be contesting the Premiership finals but it doesn’t work like that in England. We should take note that it is not all about blowing the budget. Chris Boyd built the framework from within and from the academy. It does work.

Alongside a possible Bordeaux dynasty, the Bleu Black and White of Bath hove into view and could be at the top of English rugby for years to come, déjà vu? History beckoned and was recalled in their European final as they saw off the Wolves of Lyon quite easily with the conservatism associated with the great sides of the past. Lyon played their hearts out and seemed to win every restart as a prime source of possession but their line out and scrum were destroyed. They were up against a supertanker of resource versus their own talent pool. I had to smile to read my old fly half talk about Finn Russell playing within his considerable talents for the sake of the game plan. Seem to remember that happened rather a lot in the 80’s (don’t give the ball to Trick, Swift or Guscott it’s too risky!) until the famous Twickenham Mayday Cup Final against Gloucester in 1990 when demolition was an understatement and we indulged ourselves in the never to be forgotten 47-6 dismemberment of the hopeful Cherry and Whites. 

Make no mistake, this Bath squad will make their own memories and their own history, you can feel it.

Amongst this marvellous and ongoing end of season drama, the value of the individual is being elevated as the latest effort to justify the cost plus model of élite rugby. Not just the likes of Pollock, Russell and the French musketeers for whom any press is good press, but the B&I Lions will add to this. So too the perception of global superstar valuation in a breakaway league, which if it doesn’t happen will simply drive player wage inflation and that’s before the off-field actors have their say. Coaches and administrators are apparently in the same pay bracket as senior captains of industry, yes this choo-choo steam train has it’s share of gravy. Does the momentum stop here? Not if you believe that Middle East and US investors have more money than sense – LIV Golf, T20 (forget the Hundred), NFL, NBA etc etc are the quoted models to pursue. Is this the grand rugby vision to attract the TV audiences, sponsors and youngsters?

To bring you all down to earth, there were wistful and misty eyed farewells to Dan Cole, Danny Care, Ben Youngs, Mike Brown and Alex Goode who have graced our rugby fields for well more than a decade each, almost 500 England appearances between them. The matches they played in last weekend were not the main attraction as there was nothing to play for in any of their contests. But it was a chance to say good bye and wish them well in their life after sport. They were always only one injury away from a finished career – can we blame the current generation who may want to take the money and run?

Hallers