ONE INTERESTING ASPECT of the build-up to today’s Champions Cup decider in Cardiff [KO 2.45pm, RTÉ/Premier Sports] was that both finalists went nearly full-strength last weekend.

They resisted the temptation to rest key men a week out from the final, negating the risk of injury.

Of course, the risk on the flipside is that players might not be as sharp and battle-hardened if they rest up.

As they continue to fight on two fronts, Bordeaux had an important 34-29 win over Castres in the Top 14 last weekend, and most of their available big guns were involved. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Matthieu Jalibert, and Maxime Lucu were in the starting XV, while Guido Petti, Yoram Moefana, and Pete Samu were among the replacements used.

Bordeaux did the same before their Champions Cup semi-final win against Toulouse, going strong with their selection in a Top 14 clash with La Rochelle the previous weekend.

Northampton took on Saracens in the Premiership last weekend and despite being well down the table and much out of the running for the play-offs, the Saints started all of their star men.

Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Tommy Freeman, Henry Pollock, Alex Coles, Josh Kemeny and captain Fraser Dingwall were all in the starting XV as Northampton beat Saracens 28-24, coming back from 7-24 down.

There were injury concerns arising from the game, with hooker Curtis Langdon and fullback James Ramm both replaced in the first half before locks Temo Mayanavanua and Alex Coles suffered knocks in the second, but Saints were happy to keep match sharpness.

“I think there’s the risk of those knocks, but there’s the risk of not playing and not being up to speed, so I feel like we’ve benefited from that,” said skipper Dingwall on BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast on Wednesday.

Northampton captain Fraser Dingwall. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

And happily for Saints, they named all of Langdon, Ramm, Mayanavanua, and Coles in their starting XV for today’s final. It remains to be seen exactly how fit they all are, but it was good news yesterday.

The English side also went strong with selection the weekend before their big Champions Cup semi-final win away to Leinster, starting all their front-line players in a 48-31 Premiership victory over Bristol. It was a win that Northampton felt gave them momentum and sharpness for the Leinster clash.

Of course, Northampton’s build-up to the semi-final was in contrast to Leinster’s.

Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber opted not to start any of their front-liners in Leinster’s two URC games against Ulster and the Scarlets before the semi-final.

The same was true before Leinster’s huge Round of 16 and quarter-final wins against Harlequins and Glasgow. None of the front-liners went on the URC tour of South Africa that preceded those Champions Cup knock-out games, but they looked sharp in those wins over Quins and Glasgow.

This is nothing new for Leinster. They generally don’t play their front-line players in the URC the weekend before their biggest Champions Cup games.

Yet as they review the defeat to Northampton, Leinster will surely wonder whether they should have kept more rhythm in their first-choice players by giving them a start in either the Ulster or Scarlets game. 

Northampton head coach Sam Vesty certainly felt the Irish side weren’t as precise as usual in the semi-final.

“Leinster? They didn’t play for two weeks prior to playing us and there’s lots of balls on the floor, the hands aren’t quite as sharp as you want them to be,” Vesty told BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly.

“You know, hindsight is brilliant, you can say whatever you want in hindsight.”

Jacques Nienaber and Leo Cullen. Tom Honan / INPHO Tom Honan / INPHO / INPHO

Vesty expanded on why Northampton didn’t hold back with their selection a week before the Champions Cup semi-final or final.

“To go and play rugby and play sharp, fast, skillful, move-the-ball rugby, which is what we’re trying to do, you have to do it,” said Sam Vesty.

“It comes with the risks, but we’ll back our squad to go with whoever the 15 are that take the field and the eight on the bench that we’ve had a good training week, and we’ve got lots of good rugby under our belt.”

The depth of Leinster’s squad and the number of international players they have are the envy of many other clubs, but those things haven’t resulted in a trophy since 2021. Of course, Leinster will look to put that right in the URC next month.

Cullen is a coach who does his best to consider the long-term workload of his frontline Leinster players, most of whom play lots of minutes at the highest level of the game for Ireland. 

When he opted to rest front-liners in those weeks before the Northampton game, Cullen may have been considering the fact that many of them will go on an arduous Lions tour when their club season ends. That’s on top of busy autumn and Six Nations campaigns for Ireland. Leinster’s leading players often flag how well managed they are as a big positive.

Perhaps Leinster will continue with their policy of giving key men chances to rest ahead of huge games. But they must at least consider whether their approach is getting the best results possible.

For now, Leinster must watch on as Northampton and Bordeaux do battle today.

NORTHAMPTON: George Furbank; Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall (captain), Rory Hutchinson, James Ramm; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Emmanuel Iyogun, Curtis Langdon, Trevor Davison; Temo Mayanavanua, Tom Lockett; Alex Coles, Josh Kemeny, Henry Pollock.

Replacements: Craig Wright, Tarek Haffar, Elliot Millar-Mills, Ed Prowse, Angus Scott-Young, Tom James, Tom Litchfield, Ollie Sleightholme.

BORDEAUX: Romain Buros; Damian Penaud, Nicolas Depoortere, Yoram Moefana, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu (captain); Jefferson Poirot, Maxime Lamothe, Sipili Falatea; Adam Coleman, Cyril Cazeaux; Mahamadou Diaby, Guido Petti, Pete Samu.

Replacements: Connor Sa, Ugo Boniface, Ben Tameifuna, Pierre Bochaton, Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, Marko Gazzotti, Arthur Retiere, Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

Referee: Nika Amashukeli [Georgia].