It has been forecast before, and has proven premature, but this is it then. We’re in the very midst of it now. The era of the French. Top 14 clubs are now dominating European rugby like never before and beating them to the trophy has never looked more difficult.
Of course there have always been, and always will be, different cycles. Nothing lasts forever. Northampton’s 9-8 win over Munster in 2000 heralded a run of four English winners in a period of five seasons. From 2006 to 2012, there were five Irish champions in seven years. Ah, blissful times! Alas, only one in the last 13 years.
From 2013 to 2015 there was that Toulon three-in-a-row as they hit the tournament like a tornado, before English clubs provided four of the next five champions – three of them by Saracens, who were subsequently derided and relegated for financial doping.
Why Leinster now have to win the URC
But never before has one country accounted for five Champions Cup triumphs in succession. What’s more, Union Bordeaux Bègles (UBB) became the third different French winner in this era, emulating La Rochelle’s maiden win in 2022 over Leinster in Marseille, by beating Northampton in Cardiff last Saturday.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
Why James Lowe is determined for Cian Healy and Ross Byrne to leave Leinster with a medal this season
Munster will need to dip into their reserves of emotional energy in Durban
Gordon D’Arcy: The greatest danger to Leinster could come from within
That old chestnut about the French being Eurosceptics, save for Toulouse, has never looked so hoary. In truth, on foot of Toulouse and Brive winning the first two European Cups and Colomiers reaching the final in the fourth season it was always a bit of a myth anyway and perhaps distorted by Castres’ seemingly dilettante attitude.
Five different French clubs account for their 13 titles – Toulouse (six), Toulon (three), La Rochelle (two), Brive and UBB one apiece. England’s 10 titles have come from six clubs and Ireland’s seven trophies have been shared among three of the provinces.
But the French have also provided six other finalists, including Clermont and Racing 92, who have each lost three deciders. That hardly indicates disinterest.
As well as the 5,000 or more UBB fans who travelled to Cardiff and matched the 20,000 Saints fans for noise and colour, a crowd of 25,000 filled out the fan zone in Bordeaux to watch the match on a giant screen and nearly 40,000 people gathered around the Place des Quinconces on Sunday for the team’s civic reception and open top parade.
Pierre Hurmic, the Mayor of Bordeaux, exclaimed: “We have definitively proven, if it was necessary, that Bordeaux is a great rugby city.”
President Emmanuel Macron posted on X: “Wine is not the only Bordeaux treasure: the Union Bordeaux Bègles inscribes its name in gold letters in the European legend of rugby! Bravo. With panache and heart, France is proud.”
As well as other Top 14 and ProD2 clubs, the Barcelona and French footballer Jules Koundé congratulated his fellow Girondins, as did PSG ahead of their Champions League final against Inter Milan next Saturday.
UBB‘s triumph is timely too. The most recent French TV deal in the post-pandemic world of 2022 was reputedly reduced from €30 million to €16 million. Yet, on foot of EPCR botching TNT’s offer to renew its €15 million per year contract and having to accept roughly half that from Premier Sports, French television still remains the main broadcasting backer.
True, it’s dwarfed by the Canal+ eight-year extension of €696.8m to show all Top 14 rugby until 2032, which is worth €139.4m a season, but EPCR’s next four-year deal with beIN Sports and France Télévisions is expected to be confirmed later this week. In addition to beIN Sports again broadcasting every Champions Cup match, as well as some Challenge Cup fixtures, France Télévisions (ever presents since 1995-96) will continue to cover two Champions Cup matches, and Challenge Cup fixture, on a free-to-air basis each weekend.
Such is the tournament’s reach in France that the Toulon-Toulouse quarter-final drew a record 3.2 million viewers. By contrast, from next season onwards, as part of Premier Sports’ contracts with EPCR, the subscription channel will have exclusive coverage of the Champions and Challenge Cups. No matches will be on free-to-air, and that goes for the URC as well, save for TG4.
In so many respects therefore, the French are now the heartbeat of European rugby. Yannick Bru described this as the best of the four Champions Cups he has won as a player, assistant coach and now head coach.
Their president, Laurent Marti, who has masterminded their rise from formation in 2006 through promotion in 2011, couldn’t stop grinning when talking to the French media in the Principality Stadium mixed zone.
“I prefer to be champion of France but I discovered the Champions Cup from a different angle,” he admitted. “I understand better why some people love it. It’s magical because it’s international, and I think that without Yannick [Bru], we wouldn’t have won it.”
UBB benefited from the draw, securing a maximum 20 points in the pool stages with a 66-12 win at home to the Sharks a week after Toulouse failed to earn a bonus point away to the South Africans. This effectively led to UBB having home advantage in the semi-finals against Toulouse. Still, they beat six-time former champions, with 13 titles between them, en route to their first star and scored 54 tries in their eight matches. Leinster fans will forever lament that semi-final defeat and wonder what might have been, but Champions Cups usually get the champions it deserves.
What’s more, you look at players like Louis Bielle-Biarrey (21), Yoram Moefana (24), Nicolas Depoortère (22) and backrower Marko Gazzotti (21), and UBB look here to stay. Coupled with the arrival of the South African franchises, this tournament has never been harder for an Irish side to win.
Realistically, Leinster remain the most viable contender by a distance. Their playing budget, swelled by 11 central contracts, is probably in the ballpark of €9-9.5 million, with a chunk of that underwritten by the IRFU. But the union recoup all the fees generated by the provinces from the EPCR and URC. They also receive a sizeable amount of money, previously €250,000 to €300,000 from Leinster hiring the Aviva Stadium, and also pocket 50 per cent of Leinster’s share of the gate receipts from, say, a Champions Cup home quarter-final, which could be €350,000 to €400,000.
Still, Leinster maximise their socio-economic advantages, akin to Toulouse and UBB, and their playing budget is not a world away from the Top 14 salary cap of €10.5 million. It’s also more than the €7.75 million of Premiership clubs such as Northampton.
The playing budgets of Connacht, Munster and Ulster probably range from €4 million to €6 million but like pretty much everyone else belts are being tightened. Money talks, and although they lost a semi-final at home to Northampton, Leinster remain the likeliest threat to this Era of the French.
