Leinster's Tommy O'Brien learning just how hard it is to win a Champions Cup

Bordeaux-Begles had way too much for the Irish side at the San Mames.

Tommy O'Brien, right, and Max Deegan of Leinster after the Investec Champions Cup final. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Tommy O’Brien thought Saturday's Champions Cup final was falling just perfectly for him.

It started when Caelan Doris won the toss and elected to play in a direction that would leave the winger in the glorious shade on a baking hot day in Bilbao where a good third of the pitch was exposed to the rays of a harsh sun.

Even better was the try he claimed to open the scoring after nine minutes, O’Brien putting the finishing touches to an impressive multi-phase effort on the part of a province looking to break a cycle of final defeats.

It was nothing more than mirage on a day that turned against them.

“I thought we were on. Frustrating, obviously. Our attack was looking good. It was the story of our first half. We didn’t have the ball, we were on defence and it zapped a lot of our energy and when we did have the ball, just weren’t able to capitalise.” 

There were frustrations over small things with big consequences, not least Bordeaux-Begles' last two tries of that dominant first-half when Louis Bielle-Biarrey profited from a loose, wickedly bouncing ball and Yoram Moefana skipped away for an intercept.

“That’s 14 points there.” If that was the only difference then Leinster could shake their fists at the gods. It wasn’t. O’Brien was part of a chorus admitting that UBB were the better side on the day and that you make your own luck in this game.

For him it was the second time in four months to line up on the same wing as Bielle-Biarrey. The man they call LBB scored twice when they featured for France in Ireland in the Six Nations, and did so again here.

“He’s just very good, a very good finisher, his pace and good finishing, fair play to him, he’s had a great season. He’s been great for a couple of years now. It is always good to test yourself against someone like that but unfortunately he had another good day.” 

If fatigue in the heat was a factor then there is an acceptance that this can’t be used as a shield to deflect reality either. At half-time they were 35-7 down and facing the largest half-time margin in over 30 years of European deciders.

It’s no shock then to learn that Leinster’s remarkable second-half comeback against Northampton Saints in 2011 got an airing in the dressing-room at half-time. They talked about attacking it, and did, but the miracle was never in play.

It leaves them in an unenviable position having lost five finals on the trot. O’Brien was hardly in the door as a youngster in 2018 when they won their last here in Bilbao and he wasn’t the first to be deceived by the ignorance of youth.

“It’s such a tough competition to win. I probably didn’t realise it. I was naively thinking this is going to happen every year. So it’s just an eye opener. Everyone is pretty well aware of it, how hard a competition it is to win.

“We work so hard to get to these games, obviously a long season, we work so hard to get here, and it was a good thing to be in this final. It’s pretty bitter when you don’t get the right performance and you don’t get the right result at the end.” The season isn’t over just yet. A URC quarter-final against the Lions awaits next weekend in Dublin but the yearning for that fifth star will pass on to another season. Another 12 months of soul-searching lies ahead.

For O’Brien, there is no doubt. The belief is still there.

“Yeah, we always do. It’s definitely a bit of an eye opener, some of the stuff Bordeaux put out there today. Probably similar to that France Ireland game, balls are bouncing, it seems that balls are bouncing their way but if it keeps happening, it’s not just luck.

“There is something more to it.”