IF LEINSTER ARE to come out on top in their latest quest for a fifth European Champions Cup title at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao on Saturday, Jamison Gibson-Park believes it will be important to curb the influence of his opposite number, Maxime Lucu.
A recruit from Top 14 rivals Biarritz in 2019, Lucu played a crucial role as captain 12 months ago when Bordeaux Bègles overcame Northampton Saints at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to earn a breakthrough success in Europe’s top tier.
While Gibson-Park has not come face-to-face with his fellow scrum-half in a competitive club fixture, they have met before on the international stage.
Perhaps most memorably, Lucu was called on to replace an injured Antoine Dupont just 29 minutes into France’s Six Nations Championship visit to the Aviva Stadium on 8 March last year and made a significant impact as Les Bleus recorded a convincing 42-27 victory.
Despite not featuring at test level since last November, Lucu has remained a key figure for Bordeaux and Gibson-Park is wary of what he can bring to the table this weekend.
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“He is a pretty special player, I think he’s a proper rock star over there in Bordeaux and rightly so. He does a bit of everything. He does a bunch of work for them on defence. Kicks the ball unbelievably well, great threat on attack. He’s pretty much the full package and certainly a bit of a talisman for them,” Gibson-Park said at a Leinster media briefing in University College Dublin on Monday.
“He’s a great footballer, so he can pop up in all sorts of different positions. A lot of those French guys are like that. That’s how they kind of come through playing when they’re younger. He’s a special player. That’s a challenge for us, to try and hold him on the weekend.”
In just his second season on these shores back in 2017-18, Gibson-Park appeared as a 61st-minute replacement for Luke McGrath as Leinster defeated Racing 92 to claim the Champions Cup title in the same venue they are set to appear in.
Although a rule back then on ‘non-European players’ dictated that only two of them, James Lowe and Scott Fardy, could be named in a match day 23 for either European competition or the Pro14, it was Gibson-Park and Australian international stalwart Fardy who were given the nod by head coach Leo Cullen for their showdown with Racing.
The Champions Cup was a largely unfamiliar concept to Gibson-Park when he first touched down in Ireland, but having gone so close to reaching a European decider in his first season with Leinster, he was in a position to cherish that 2018 triumph when it eventually came around.
“I suppose I got a pretty good grasp on the first year. We lost to Clermont in the semi-final. I think at that stage I understood how much the competition meant to this club. I got to grasp the history and that kind of thing.
“I understood how important it was, and it was a kind of interesting time for me personally with the rule and when Scott [Fardy] came in, missing out on a few big games, which was kind of weird looking back on it now.
“I suppose it’s part of the journey. I have pretty fond memories of that game, that day and sitting on the bench. If you guys were there, there was this crazy tension in the stadium. It was just awesome.”
Even though he missed out entirely on their final defeat to Saracens at St James’ Park, Newcastle in 2019, Gibson-Park (who became an Ireland international in October 2020) played almost every minute in the three Champions Cup deciders Leinster lost on the bounce from 2022 to 2024.
The pressure on them to deliver has increased with each passing final, and Gibson-Park admitted it has been difficult at times dealing with the occasion for some of their biggest Champions Cup encounters.
Yet he also remains optimistic that the Irish province have learnt from their previous experiences and will be able to come out with the correct approach in Bilbao.
“I suppose part of that is just doing your best to stay present. I think maybe something we’ve struggled with in the past is getting too caught up in the occasion or whatever. I think we’ve had enough shots at it now to understand what the week looks like,” Gibson-Park added.
“You can just build into it, and ultimately, it’s a game of footy. It’s cup rugby. Particularly when you’re up against the likes of Bordeaux, you’ve got to go out there and give it a crack. We’re doing our best to do that on the weekend, for sure.”
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'He is a pretty special player, I think he's a proper rock star'
IF LEINSTER ARE to come out on top in their latest quest for a fifth European Champions Cup title at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao on Saturday, Jamison Gibson-Park believes it will be important to curb the influence of his opposite number, Maxime Lucu.
A recruit from Top 14 rivals Biarritz in 2019, Lucu played a crucial role as captain 12 months ago when Bordeaux Bègles overcame Northampton Saints at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff to earn a breakthrough success in Europe’s top tier.
While Gibson-Park has not come face-to-face with his fellow scrum-half in a competitive club fixture, they have met before on the international stage.
Perhaps most memorably, Lucu was called on to replace an injured Antoine Dupont just 29 minutes into France’s Six Nations Championship visit to the Aviva Stadium on 8 March last year and made a significant impact as Les Bleus recorded a convincing 42-27 victory.
Despite not featuring at test level since last November, Lucu has remained a key figure for Bordeaux and Gibson-Park is wary of what he can bring to the table this weekend.
“He is a pretty special player, I think he’s a proper rock star over there in Bordeaux and rightly so. He does a bit of everything. He does a bunch of work for them on defence. Kicks the ball unbelievably well, great threat on attack. He’s pretty much the full package and certainly a bit of a talisman for them,” Gibson-Park said at a Leinster media briefing in University College Dublin on Monday.
“He’s a great footballer, so he can pop up in all sorts of different positions. A lot of those French guys are like that. That’s how they kind of come through playing when they’re younger. He’s a special player. That’s a challenge for us, to try and hold him on the weekend.”
In just his second season on these shores back in 2017-18, Gibson-Park appeared as a 61st-minute replacement for Luke McGrath as Leinster defeated Racing 92 to claim the Champions Cup title in the same venue they are set to appear in.
Although a rule back then on ‘non-European players’ dictated that only two of them, James Lowe and Scott Fardy, could be named in a match day 23 for either European competition or the Pro14, it was Gibson-Park and Australian international stalwart Fardy who were given the nod by head coach Leo Cullen for their showdown with Racing.
The Champions Cup was a largely unfamiliar concept to Gibson-Park when he first touched down in Ireland, but having gone so close to reaching a European decider in his first season with Leinster, he was in a position to cherish that 2018 triumph when it eventually came around.
“I suppose I got a pretty good grasp on the first year. We lost to Clermont in the semi-final. I think at that stage I understood how much the competition meant to this club. I got to grasp the history and that kind of thing.
“I understood how important it was, and it was a kind of interesting time for me personally with the rule and when Scott [Fardy] came in, missing out on a few big games, which was kind of weird looking back on it now.
“I suppose it’s part of the journey. I have pretty fond memories of that game, that day and sitting on the bench. If you guys were there, there was this crazy tension in the stadium. It was just awesome.”
Even though he missed out entirely on their final defeat to Saracens at St James’ Park, Newcastle in 2019, Gibson-Park (who became an Ireland international in October 2020) played almost every minute in the three Champions Cup deciders Leinster lost on the bounce from 2022 to 2024.
The pressure on them to deliver has increased with each passing final, and Gibson-Park admitted it has been difficult at times dealing with the occasion for some of their biggest Champions Cup encounters.
Yet he also remains optimistic that the Irish province have learnt from their previous experiences and will be able to come out with the correct approach in Bilbao.
“I suppose part of that is just doing your best to stay present. I think maybe something we’ve struggled with in the past is getting too caught up in the occasion or whatever. I think we’ve had enough shots at it now to understand what the week looks like,” Gibson-Park added.
“You can just build into it, and ultimately, it’s a game of footy. It’s cup rugby. Particularly when you’re up against the likes of Bordeaux, you’ve got to go out there and give it a crack. We’re doing our best to do that on the weekend, for sure.”
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