WITHIN A FEW minutes of the full-time whistle in Bilbao, merchandise commemorating Bordeaux’s second European title on the spin went on sale on the club website.

Attack coach Noel McNamara emerged in the mixed zone at Estadio de San Mamés sporting one of the maroon t-shirts that had been dispersed among players and staff even more quickly, the words ‘UBB: Back 2 Back champions’ emblazoned across their chests.

There’s a fine line between being ready to win and believing you have a divine right to win, and Yannick Bru’s Bordeaux side remain firmly on the right side of that line.

While they are now two years unbeaten in the Champions Cup and they kicked off as around five-point favourites to beat Leinster on Saturday, easily forgotten is that UBB’s defence of their European title had begun with a game in which they fought back from an 11-point deficit to the Bulls on the South African Highveld.

Their quarter-final, semi-final and final, meanwhile, saw them beat arguably the next three best teams on the continent. Bordeaux are now, in effect, undisputed champions, having seen off all comers since last season. And protecting their throne against the advances of various league champions this season was a huge motivating factor for their players, McNamara explained.

“We had to go about building this competition,” said the Clare man. “It didn’t start particularly well. We were 33-22 down at half-time to the Bulls and it has been a very difficult route to the final.

“The players have been really motivated by that. There is a feeling within the group that nobody can argue with the title if you go and beat the champions of the URC, champions of the Premiership, champions of France three times in a row, and Leicester Tigers who are flying high in the Premiership. And then, obviously, we played Northampton in last year’s final.

“That was a big motivating factor. There was never overconfidence. The players are clear on what they need to do to perform. The way we play requires a lot of hard work. Sometimes people maybe only see the end point where Louis [Bielle Biarrey] scores a try but an awful lot goes into creating that.”

The opportunity to pit their attacking brilliance against Leinster’s Jacques Nienaber-influenced defence was also considered a mouth-watering challenge by Bordeaux’s players themselves, who had not faced such a system on their three-year journey under Yannick Bru and attack coach McNamara.

It was a chance not just to exhibit their speed and skill-set with ball in hand, but the sheer physical power of their pack which remains one of their more unheralded characteristics.

And while there were plenty of nuances to Bordeaux’s attacking gameplan — just look at the precision with which they dismantled Leinster off the scrum that led to their second try through Pablo Uberti — there was equally an overarching simplicity to their victory: the best way around a defence is through a defence.

“There is a bit of fool’s gold on the edges (against Leinster),” McNamara said. “They are very compact and you can’t go and find that too soon, so it’s about going direct. We have some players who are very good at that.

“Look at the performance of Yoram Moefana, Marco Gazotti, Jeff Poirot, Carlu Sadie. The work that was done by those guys – look at the second try coming off the back of an advantage from the scrum.

“It’s not a defence that we come up against particularly often and I can tell you that that really motivated the players. They were excited with the opportunity to attack against that. The best players are motivated by challenge and we saw that.

“When we did put speed in the game… Leinster have been very good at slowing down the ruck. The average ruck speed is over four seconds against them. I would imagine that was a little bit quicker and that was a big factor for us. Obviously, when there is no ruck, that is even better.”

Former Leinster academy boss McNamara believes Bordeaux’s ceiling is “a long, long way away”, citing the age profile of key men such as Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Mathieu Jalibert, who are years shy of the typical peak age for their respective positions.

And the Irish attack coach said that the club’s aim is for UBB to become the universal team, capable of beating opposition in whatever manner the situation warrants on a given day.

“The goal is to be all-terrain,” McNamara said. “The goal is to have the ability to score tries and win games in whatever way is required, and I think we talk about it sometimes, about ‘medicine’ for our game.

“So if our lineout strikes are struggling, then having the ability to have something else. It is very much a case of, we don’t want to be somebody that you can say, ‘If you stop Bordeaux, don’t give them lineouts, they can’t score; you don’t give them turnovers, they can’t score.’

“So for us, the pleasing thing today, we got a couple of lucky bounces as well. Matthieu got blocked down by Joe McCarthy, the ball bounced up well, up into Damian’s arms, Damian wins the contact, offloads to Louis: it’s that speed of thought and speed of legs as well, to capitalise on that opportunity.

“I think overall, the most pleasing aspect for me is just that the players, the effort that they put in was rewarded.

“We defended brilliantly. I think the forwards in particular put in a massive shift.

“You’re carrying 150kgs like Ben Tameifuna and the ‘real feel’ today is about 40 degrees. I think it’s pretty impressive.”