BORDEAUX’S CHAMPIONS CUP win on Saturday brought a continuation of the distinctly French flavour that has wrapped itself around European rugby’s premier competition over recent seasons.
For a start, the 41-19 defeat of Leinster saw Yannick Bru’s men go back-to-back in the Champions Cup, having won the tournament for the first time last season.
Widen the lens, and Bordeaux’s current reign follows golden periods for Toulouse and La Rochelle, who shared the trophy for two seasons each across 2021 to 2024.
So since Exeter edged Racing 92 in the 2020 final, we’ve had six straight years of French champions. Indeed, the 2019 pairing of Saracens and Leinster remains the only decider since Leinster’s 2012 defeat of Ulster where a French team didn’t make the final.
The Challenge Cup is a different beast given teams drop in from the Champions Cup each year, but that too has been dominated by French clubs – winning seven of the last 11 finals. Friday’s clash between Montpellier and Ulster isn’t an exact like-for-like with Saturday’s game given the significance of the northern province’s injury problems, but Richie Murphy’s men were blown away by a French side who were operating on a different level.
And there is too long a trail to just write this off as a bad weekend for Irish rugby.
The French sides have always been there or thereabouts, but at the moment, they are thriving as the provinces struggle to keep up.
Looking at the lay of the land, there’s no reason to believe that French dominance will fade any time soon. The French have two key metrics in their favour – boasting more money and more people – and with a booming club game and a revitalised national team, French rugby is enjoying another golden period.
At grassroots level, numbers are swelling. In 2025, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) confirmed a total of 364,664 registered players, marking the highest participation numbers since 2007 – when France hosted the Rugby World Cup.
And at the top, the Test team are back-to-back Six Nations champions, with their 2022 Grand Slam success ending a 12-year wait for a championship. The end of that drought has coincided with better fortunes at underage level, too. France have won the U20 Six Nations in the last two years, with the 2025 win their first since 2018.
Bordeaux attract consistent sell-out crowds at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
It’s all backboned by a brilliant domestic scene. Not only is the Top 14 the most demanding top league in world rugby, at the layer below, the Pro D2 has plenty of quality.
Just look at the current Top 14 table, where Toulouse sit eight points clear of second-place Montpellier. There’s no talk of crisis around Toulouse, but they’ve lost seven from 24 league games this season. Bordeaux, who are undeniably a brilliant side, sit fifth and have lost 10.
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Those records don’t get met with the same concern that greets Leinster losing six from 18 in the URC, as the Top 14 moves to a different beat. Such are the demands, there’s a long-standing tendency to rotate for away games. That competition makes it a brilliant breeding ground for young players, and it’s worth highlighting the success of the JIFF rule (Top 14 sides must average 16 players who have come through French Academy systems in their squads throughout the season), which puts a greater focus on developing French talent.
Not that the stars are wrapped in cotton wool. Matthieu Jalibert has played 23 games for Bordeaux this season, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey on 22.
In the French game, the focus is largely on your home fixtures, which helps feed into generating fanatical support. Bordeaux themselves have sold out their last 30 home games, with tickets starting as low as €7. La Rochelle, who are going through a tough period after their own glory years, have passed 110 consecutive sold-out home games in the Top 14.
That helps keep the money flowing – with Bordeaux, Toulouse and La Rochelle all profit-making clubs. Bordeaux and Toulouse both generate around €10 million in ticket sales.
Matthieu Jalibert has played 23 games for Bordeaux this season. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
The latest Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) report revealed a 6.9% increase in Top 14 revenues on the previous year.
And a lucrative TV deal plays a major role in powering the French game.
The current TV deal with Canal+ is worth €113.6 million per season. From 2027, that figure will jump to €128.7 million. Even down at Pro D2 level, clubs are banking around €2-€3 million a year from the deal.
The provinces aren’t getting the same influx of cash, as bemoaned by Munster chief executive Ian Flanagan in his recent interview with the Irish Examiner, where he highlighted the lower-rate TV deals for both the URC and Champions Cup as contributing factors to the province’s financial difficulties.
Indeed, Flanagan stated his belief that the LNR and Canal+ agreement is the “only club league in the world with what I would judge to be a good or a fair TV deal”.
Top 14 clubs operate to a salary cap set at €10.7 million per club, rising to €11 million, but can exceed this through international player credits for squad members who are involved with the French national side. It’s estimated a star-studded side like Toulouse can move north of €13 million with their salary spend.
This is something Leo Cullen has been happy to highlight over the years. After this year’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat of Toulon, Cullen framed it as his Leinster side being up against “juggernauts of the game”.
Most would argue Leinster fall into that bracket, but it’s worth noting that over the last couple of years, club rugby here has been faced with a greater battle for attention. The URC is no longer available to watch on RTÉ and the EPCR competitions have also moved strictly behind a paywall.
So there are fewer casual eyes on the provinces’ games, and that’s coincided with a time when the four provinces appear to be tightening their squads.
Leinster can still attract high-profile signings like Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, but homegrown players like Ciarán Frawley, Will Connors and Luke McGrath are on the list of seven who will be leaving at the end of the summer. As it stands, Joey Carbery is the only confirmed incoming player for 2026/27.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Bordeaux should look even stronger on paper, with Tom Willis joining this summer, while Toulouse are adding Tomasso Menoncello to their already-stacked backline.
The province do so much right in how they bring through homegrown players and have long served as bulk suppliers to the Test squad, but a funding model that has worked to their favour will significantly change this summer.
From 1 August, the provinces will have to fund 40% of the cost of national players’ contracts – a 10% rise. That’s a tasty hit for a team who had 14 Ireland internationals in their starting 15 in Bilbao.
Not that Leinster are the only province making notable moves with their squad.
In Connacht, Stuart Lancaster has spoken of a need to put more trust in young players as he too trims his playing numbers. The western province have confirmed 12 exits, with five incoming over the summer.
Munster’s business isn’t finished, with four confirmed to leave and two announced to join, but the overall health of their squad has nosedived since the 2023 URC title win. No one is saying it’s easy to replace generational players like Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Keith Earls, but many have been frustrated with Munster’s transfer business.
Ulster have been through a similar tightening of the belt, and after a couple of tough years Richie Murphy’s work with a younger squad was taking shape across the first half of this season, before a post-Six Nations tail-off. For all their improvement, Ulster’s depth was tested when injuries hit their international players.
Maybe less proves to be more, and more streamlined squads supplemented by the odd overseas signing is a model that lifts the provinces up a level, but for now, Irish Rugby appears to be stuck in a moment as the French pull further ahead.
None of which is to say Irish teams won’t have more days in the sun over the coming years. Leinster deserve huge credit for being such a consistent presence at the latter end of the Champions Cup, but watching them get overpowered and out-thought in the Bilbao heat on Saturday, it was hard not to think back to this year’s Six Nations opener, where a vibrant French side made light work of Andy Farrell’s Ireland in the Parisian rain.
Ireland recovered from that setback to finish the Six Nations strongly, but across the board, it’s going to take a mammoth effort to keep up with a French system that is currently functioning to devastating effect.
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Irish rugby faces a tough ask in keeping up with vibrant French system
BORDEAUX’S CHAMPIONS CUP win on Saturday brought a continuation of the distinctly French flavour that has wrapped itself around European rugby’s premier competition over recent seasons.
For a start, the 41-19 defeat of Leinster saw Yannick Bru’s men go back-to-back in the Champions Cup, having won the tournament for the first time last season.
Widen the lens, and Bordeaux’s current reign follows golden periods for Toulouse and La Rochelle, who shared the trophy for two seasons each across 2021 to 2024.
So since Exeter edged Racing 92 in the 2020 final, we’ve had six straight years of French champions. Indeed, the 2019 pairing of Saracens and Leinster remains the only decider since Leinster’s 2012 defeat of Ulster where a French team didn’t make the final.
The Challenge Cup is a different beast given teams drop in from the Champions Cup each year, but that too has been dominated by French clubs – winning seven of the last 11 finals. Friday’s clash between Montpellier and Ulster isn’t an exact like-for-like with Saturday’s game given the significance of the northern province’s injury problems, but Richie Murphy’s men were blown away by a French side who were operating on a different level.
And there is too long a trail to just write this off as a bad weekend for Irish rugby.
The French sides have always been there or thereabouts, but at the moment, they are thriving as the provinces struggle to keep up.
Looking at the lay of the land, there’s no reason to believe that French dominance will fade any time soon. The French have two key metrics in their favour – boasting more money and more people – and with a booming club game and a revitalised national team, French rugby is enjoying another golden period.
At grassroots level, numbers are swelling. In 2025, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) confirmed a total of 364,664 registered players, marking the highest participation numbers since 2007 – when France hosted the Rugby World Cup.
And at the top, the Test team are back-to-back Six Nations champions, with their 2022 Grand Slam success ending a 12-year wait for a championship. The end of that drought has coincided with better fortunes at underage level, too. France have won the U20 Six Nations in the last two years, with the 2025 win their first since 2018.
It’s all backboned by a brilliant domestic scene. Not only is the Top 14 the most demanding top league in world rugby, at the layer below, the Pro D2 has plenty of quality.
Just look at the current Top 14 table, where Toulouse sit eight points clear of second-place Montpellier. There’s no talk of crisis around Toulouse, but they’ve lost seven from 24 league games this season. Bordeaux, who are undeniably a brilliant side, sit fifth and have lost 10.
Those records don’t get met with the same concern that greets Leinster losing six from 18 in the URC, as the Top 14 moves to a different beat. Such are the demands, there’s a long-standing tendency to rotate for away games. That competition makes it a brilliant breeding ground for young players, and it’s worth highlighting the success of the JIFF rule (Top 14 sides must average 16 players who have come through French Academy systems in their squads throughout the season), which puts a greater focus on developing French talent.
Not that the stars are wrapped in cotton wool. Matthieu Jalibert has played 23 games for Bordeaux this season, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey on 22.
In the French game, the focus is largely on your home fixtures, which helps feed into generating fanatical support. Bordeaux themselves have sold out their last 30 home games, with tickets starting as low as €7. La Rochelle, who are going through a tough period after their own glory years, have passed 110 consecutive sold-out home games in the Top 14.
That helps keep the money flowing – with Bordeaux, Toulouse and La Rochelle all profit-making clubs. Bordeaux and Toulouse both generate around €10 million in ticket sales.
The latest Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) report revealed a 6.9% increase in Top 14 revenues on the previous year.
And a lucrative TV deal plays a major role in powering the French game.
The current TV deal with Canal+ is worth €113.6 million per season. From 2027, that figure will jump to €128.7 million. Even down at Pro D2 level, clubs are banking around €2-€3 million a year from the deal.
The provinces aren’t getting the same influx of cash, as bemoaned by Munster chief executive Ian Flanagan in his recent interview with the Irish Examiner, where he highlighted the lower-rate TV deals for both the URC and Champions Cup as contributing factors to the province’s financial difficulties.
Indeed, Flanagan stated his belief that the LNR and Canal+ agreement is the “only club league in the world with what I would judge to be a good or a fair TV deal”.
Top 14 clubs operate to a salary cap set at €10.7 million per club, rising to €11 million, but can exceed this through international player credits for squad members who are involved with the French national side. It’s estimated a star-studded side like Toulouse can move north of €13 million with their salary spend.
This is something Leo Cullen has been happy to highlight over the years. After this year’s Champions Cup semi-final defeat of Toulon, Cullen framed it as his Leinster side being up against “juggernauts of the game”.
Most would argue Leinster fall into that bracket, but it’s worth noting that over the last couple of years, club rugby here has been faced with a greater battle for attention. The URC is no longer available to watch on RTÉ and the EPCR competitions have also moved strictly behind a paywall.
So there are fewer casual eyes on the provinces’ games, and that’s coincided with a time when the four provinces appear to be tightening their squads.
Leinster can still attract high-profile signings like Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane, but homegrown players like Ciarán Frawley, Will Connors and Luke McGrath are on the list of seven who will be leaving at the end of the summer. As it stands, Joey Carbery is the only confirmed incoming player for 2026/27.
Bordeaux should look even stronger on paper, with Tom Willis joining this summer, while Toulouse are adding Tomasso Menoncello to their already-stacked backline.
The province do so much right in how they bring through homegrown players and have long served as bulk suppliers to the Test squad, but a funding model that has worked to their favour will significantly change this summer.
From 1 August, the provinces will have to fund 40% of the cost of national players’ contracts – a 10% rise. That’s a tasty hit for a team who had 14 Ireland internationals in their starting 15 in Bilbao.
Not that Leinster are the only province making notable moves with their squad.
In Connacht, Stuart Lancaster has spoken of a need to put more trust in young players as he too trims his playing numbers. The western province have confirmed 12 exits, with five incoming over the summer.
Munster’s business isn’t finished, with four confirmed to leave and two announced to join, but the overall health of their squad has nosedived since the 2023 URC title win. No one is saying it’s easy to replace generational players like Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Keith Earls, but many have been frustrated with Munster’s transfer business.
Ulster have been through a similar tightening of the belt, and after a couple of tough years Richie Murphy’s work with a younger squad was taking shape across the first half of this season, before a post-Six Nations tail-off. For all their improvement, Ulster’s depth was tested when injuries hit their international players.
Maybe less proves to be more, and more streamlined squads supplemented by the odd overseas signing is a model that lifts the provinces up a level, but for now, Irish Rugby appears to be stuck in a moment as the French pull further ahead.
None of which is to say Irish teams won’t have more days in the sun over the coming years. Leinster deserve huge credit for being such a consistent presence at the latter end of the Champions Cup, but watching them get overpowered and out-thought in the Bilbao heat on Saturday, it was hard not to think back to this year’s Six Nations opener, where a vibrant French side made light work of Andy Farrell’s Ireland in the Parisian rain.
Ireland recovered from that setback to finish the Six Nations strongly, but across the board, it’s going to take a mammoth effort to keep up with a French system that is currently functioning to devastating effect.
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Leinster mind the gap Rugby Bordeaux-Bègles