WITH 09.07 ON the clock and leading 7-0, Leinster must be feeling good about themselves.

Harry Byrne has just nailed the touchline conversion of Tommy O’Brien’s try, a relentless team effort in which they ground Bordeaux down to breaking point.

Leinster’s first couple of defensive efforts in the game had been good too, including some excellent maul defence by Joe McCarthy and Thomas Clarkson to create the platform for the opening score in Bilbao.

Leinster were not favourites for this Champions Cup final, but optimism among the travelling support was suddenly boosted.

Yet that momentum quickly flowed away from Leinster and in the next 20 minutes, Bordeaux put themselves in a dominant position to win the game.

Key after any score is successfully dealing with the restart, but Leinster weren’t able to do so after O’Brien’s try. Indeed, it almost seemed as if the heavy physical toll of scoring that 20-phase try weighed on Leinster in the fatiguing heat of Bilbao.

James Ryan loses track of the flight of Matthieu Jalibert’s towering restart at the last split second here and can’t gather the ball despite a double lift giving him space.

Ryan spills the ball, but there is relief for Leinster as it comes off Damian Penaud’s back and into touch for a Leinster lineout.

The relief is short-lived, however, as Bordeaux pick off the Leinster lineout.

The frustration here is that Leinster initially create lots of space to win the ball in their four-man lineout.

Jack Conan’s dummy movement to the front draws Bordeaux lineout specialist Cameron Woki into jumping there, which in turn leaves space behind him as Ryan backpedals away from an initial dummy lift on Conan.

If Ryan gets in the air here, he almost certainly wins the ball without much fuss and Leinster will be able to set up for a relieving exit kick.

However, the lineout play Leinster have called involves a further two layers as Ryan shapes to jump after backpedalling, then shifts forward and does another dummy jump. 

Eventually, it’s Joe McCarthy who jumps for Dan Sheehan’s throw, but Woki has now had time to get back in the game, and he front lifts Adam Coleman for the steal.

It’s excellent lineout work from Bordeaux, and Coleman particularly, as he initially mirrors Ryan’s movements but then reads the last dummy well and switches his focus to McCarthy.

The official match stats have Leinster down for a 94.7% success rate on their throw into the lineout but that doesn’t paint a full picture, with a handful of costly losses in there.

In this instance, Bordeaux have rapidly gone from restarting after conceding an early try to having a chance to hit back. And they nearly score on second phase as they get outside the edge of Leinster’s defence.

Bordeaux’s method for beating the Leinster defence is to use number 12 Yoram Moefana at first receiver, from where he pulls the ball back to out-half Jalibert, instead of hitting number 13 Penaud as he runs the front-door option.

Lots of teams use this shape on first phase from their own set-pieces – as Bordeaux do for their second try – but this is sprinkled in from a lineout turnover.

The pass from Moefana gives Jalibert extra time on the ball – not much, with Ringrose still advancing in a bid to shut him down – to pick out a wonderful skip pass to fullback Salesi Rayasi, who catch-passes fluidly to beat the onrushing Hugo Keenan.

Leinster will likely be disappointed that their linespeed here isn’t as ultra-aggressive as usual. Often, we’d see right wing O’Brien sprinting forward but he sits off a little here.

That means Jalibert can throw a fizzing flat pass to Rayasi, rather than having to lift it up over the advancing O’Brien, which in turn would give Keenan time to shut Rayasi down.

As it is, the ball is in the lethally dangerous left wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s hands and he shows acceleration, balance and awareness to make ground before passing to right wing Pablo Uberti on the inside.

Josh van der Flier produces a wonderful try-saving tackle on Uberti to deny Bordeaux, then nearly comes up with a relieving poach.

But as we see below, Moefana’s clearout is just enough to stop van der Flier.

McCarthy reads the ball as bobbling out of the breakdown, which would mean he can advance and apply pressure.

But that’s not how referee Karl Dickson sees it, so he signals the penalty advantage for McCarthy being offside.

Bordeaux shift the ball wide right with their advantage, and out-half Byrne comes up with another try-saving tackle to deny Woki in the right corner.

The French side come back to their penalty and kick into the left corner, where Leinster again come close to what might be a pivotal turnover.

This time, McCarthy goes up at the front of the lineout to compete for the Bordeaux throw and though he gets a hand to it, it’s adjudged to come forward off him.

Play continues with a knock-on advantage for Bordeaux but Leinster’s discipline errs as they look to dig in defensively.

It’s Byrne and Henshaw in midfield who edge ever so slightly in front of their team-mates on either side.

Assistant referee Christophe Ridley calls it in from the far touchline, so just a second after he has called the knock-on advantage as being over, Dickson indicates a new penalty advantage for Bordeaux.

They can’t turn that into a score, with O’Brien making a magnificent tackle on Boris Palu, but the pressure remains on as Dickson returns to the offside penalty. 

Leinster defend the initial three carries from Bordeaux’s powerful forwards but then they leave the door open for Lucu to snipe over for his team’s first try.

Henshaw follows Ryan in folding from Leinster’s left to right here, which leaves space back on their left.

If he had his time back again, Henshaw would obviously plug that left-hand side of the ruck, but Lucu takes his chance without hesitation.

It’s a frustrating way for Leinster to concede, yet the score stems from not being able to back up the opening try of the game with a positive exit.

Leinster’s own restart attempt after Lucu’s score brings about another error, this time from out-half Byrne.

Byrne is looking to send his restart as deep as possible, but he overcooks the kick by over five metres.

Lucu recognises the length of the kick and calmly allows it to bounce dead.

That means a scrum on halfway and more pressure for Leinster. 

They defend well on the initial phases of the Bordeaux scrum attack, who stick to their strategy of kicking early if they haven’t made progress, with Bielle-Biarrey firing the ball in behind the advancing Keenan.

It looks like an error from the Bordeaux wing, and Dickson rules that it’s a Leinster scrum back where Bielle-Biarrey kicked.

But Bielle-Biarrey appeals strongly that the ball has come off Keenan’s hand, and a couple of slow-mo replays ensue as TMO Marius van der Westhuizen has a closer look.

We are truly talking inches here, but the ball does hit the two outside fingers of Keenan’s left hand, so the initial decision is overturned.

It’s an extremely close-run thing and very unlucky for Leinster, but it means a five-metre scrum for Bordeaux with the ball having gone dead off Keenan’s hand.

The frustration is magnified because an earlier appeal from Leinster in this game for something very similar – Jamison Gibson-Park argued that Bordeaux got a touch on his kick before it went into touch – did not result in time for slo-mo replays.

A stroke of misfortune for Leinster means Bordeaux have a five-metre scrum and they take advantage clinically.

First things first, the Top 14 side’s pack deliver by earning a penalty advantage in the set-piece.

This is even more advantageous than usual because Bordeaux’s backs now know they can push things a little more. The threat of throwing an intercept pass is essentially gone. There is only upside.

That’s not to take away from the planning and execution.

Moefana, Jalibert, Penaud, and Bielle-Biarrey start very narrow to the scrum and are bunched together.

The intent in this is to make sure that Leinster left wing Rieko Ioane is kept as narrow as possible, having to worry about the threat of Bielle-Biarrey swinging up onto Jalibert’s outside shoulder.

At this stage above, the ball is in Jalibert’s hands and Ioane still isn’t sure if the Bordeaux out-half will drop it off to Bielle-Biarrey.

Realistically, it’s already too late for Ioane to adjust out onto fullback Rayasi, although there is some scope for an intercept of Jalibert’s wider pass attempt.

However, Jalibert conjures a thunderbastard of a pass as he fizzes it right across Ioane at high speed, releasing Rayasi outside him for a 2-on-1 against Keenan.

Keenan has started out wide, defending against any kick pass attempt to Uberti, but that has left him disconnected with Ioane, and now Keenan has to close in on Rayasi, who is calm in drawing the Leinster fullback and passing wide to his Uberti.

Bordeaux were well aware that Ioane would come forward at high speed here, looking to shut down their decision-making time. This play would have been rehearsed or discussed with that in mind. 

The penalty advantage earned by the forwards definitely helps but it is also razor-sharp attack as Lucu, Moefana, Jalibert, and Rayasi deliver slick passes, while Penaud’s decoy line briefly holds Ringrose from getting to Jalibert before he can pass.

With Leinster now 14-7 down, Byrne lands his restart on Lucu this time but they’re unable to get any real pressure onto him and the Bordeaux scrum-half hammers a magnificent exit kick to touch.

Getting the ball out of your own half is a good result in general, so this clearance well beyond Leinster’s 10-metre line is superb. There were a few like it from Lucu in this game.

So instead of Leinster having an attacking opportunity from the ensuing lineout, they essentially face into an exit set-up as they desperately search to get a foothold in Bordeaux’s half.

Doris makes a carry from the lineout and Gibson-Park launches a contestable box kick.

As was so often the case in this game, Leinster are unable to win the contest.

Bielle-Biarrey goes up against the chasing O’Brien and does enough to bat the ball back to the waiting Rayasi.

Bordeaux once again adhere to their policy of kicking the ball early in possession to return pressure onto Leinster, with Jalibert dinking a chip over the defence, although Ringrose reacts well to field it.

Back in their own half, Leinster go back to the box kick. This time, it’s an overhit one from Gibson-Park that doesn’t allow O’Brien into a contest.

Rayasi even has time to offload to Jalibert, who runs back at Leinster.

Bordeaux now opt to go to their own contestable kicking game, totally intent on turning Leinster as often as possible.

Lucu hangs up a box kick that looks a little shallow and relatively infield, but this is probably by design as Bordeaux aim to exploit a relatively new tactic Leinster have been using under high balls.

As highlighted in blue below, we would traditionally see a player coming up from the backfield to get underneath a contestable box kick.

However, Leinster [and other teams] have recently employed a new tactic whereby they task a retreating wing with fielding the ball as they come downfield.

It’s O’Brien [red above] in this instance.

The thinking here is that with ‘escorting’ having been stamped out of the game, this retreating player can essentially escort themselves into position to field the ball, blocking chasing players from getting access.

Bordeaux had obviously seen this in recent Leinster games and looked to take advantage, with an earlier example seeing O’Brien smashed upon fielding the ball, with a Bordeaux barge turnover following. It was clearly a planned tactic.

And in this instance, the chasing Bielle-Biarrey can simply accelerate in front of O’Brien, especially with the kicking being fairly shallow and more infield than some box kicks would be.

It takes a nice burst of Bielle-Biarrey acceleration, good timing, and excellent fielding skills, and it’s an important win after an exchange of kicks.

And so it is that Bordeaux retain their kick and bounce into a transition attack opportunity in Leinster’s half.

Jarringly, Leinster still have not touched the ball inside Bordeaux’s half since O’Brien opened the scoring. They won’t do so again until after the French side’s third try.

After Bielle-Biarrey wins the ball, Bordeaux get on a roll as Jalibert dummies a kick, steps van der Flier and Clarkson, then offloads to Marko Gazzotti for a powerful carry. More potent carrying and handling follow, with Bordeaux quickly reaching Leinster’s 22-metre line.

There’s another moment of frustration there as van der Flier wins a poach, only for Byrne to knock the ball on as it spits up out of the breakdown.

But the reality is that Leinster have begun to soak in the tackle by now.

As Bordeaux attack from the ensuing scrum, they overwhelm Leinster’s defence. Moefana wins a big first-phase gainline before Palu and Gazzotti carry twice each, earning a penalty advantage that brings more freedom.

Jalibert flings an offload even with Sheehan and Ringrose hanging off him, before Uberti ships it further wide over the head of O’Brien.

The ball doesn’t go directly into his hands but as soon as you see the red scrum cap of Bielle-Biarrey, you know it’s game over.

Clarkson makes a lung-busting effort to sprint across the pitch, but Bielle-Biarrey is an athlete and magician of rare ability.

The deft double left-foot step is remarkable, then the counter-punch of the right-footed square-up and acceleration is astonishing.

It’s a beautiful finish to a brutal, bludgeoning Bordeaux attack in the Leinster 22.

And that impression of Yannick Bru’s men overpowering Leinster is followed up a few minutes later when the territorial roles are reversed.

Leinster attack from a five-metre scrum but lose collision after collision, with scrum-half Lucu among the Bordeaux players to win their contests, even against big forwards.

In the instance above, Leinster skipper Doris is hammered by Woki and Jefferson Poirot.

And when Conan knocks the ball on a few phases later, Bordeaux boss Bru’s celebration is telling.

Bru and Bordeaux have a sense of their control of the game, even with only 30 minutes played.

The French side add two more tries before half time, and that is all she wrote.