Victor Matfield believes that Leinster’s abject Investec Champions Cup defeat will be a concern for Andy Farrell after they failed to live with Bordeaux-Begles in the final.
The Frenchmen overwhelmed the Irish province, particularly in the first half, to secure the silverware with a dominant 41-19 triumph in Bilbao.
Leo Cullen’s men struggled with the pace and intensity of Bordeaux, who easily got the better of their opponents physically and cut through the defence with ease.
Leinster form the majority of the Ireland side and Matfield reckons that it could have a knock-on effect looking ahead to the inaugural Nations Championship.
Leinster bullied
“It must be a worry for Ireland, they just got dominated physically. We all talk about [Maxime] Lucu and [Matthieu] Jalibert, and that backline of Bordeaux, but I thought it was the forward pack,” he said on the Rivals podcast.
“If you look at the collisions, in every collision Bordeaux were going forward. Even on defence, they were just stopping Leinster in their tracks.”
The former Springboks record cap holder also reserved plenty of praise for Bordeaux and suggested to fellow panellist, Sir John Kirwan, that the Frenchmen could compete against the best Test sides.
“What a performance by Bordeaux. In the past I’ve always thought, because Leinster is an international team, with that Blues team in your day JK, we had that Bulls team that really did well in Super Rugby, I wonder if you take that whole team and play against the All Blacks or Springboks or Irish team, how it would go,” Matfield said.
“I thought Bordeaux showed, if you’ve got a proper club team that knows each other – it’s there, they just understand each other – they could take on international teams.”
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That prompted Kirwan to link it to the upcoming Greatest Rivalry series where the All Blacks will be facing the best franchises South Africa has to offer, even if they might be without some of their top Springboks.
Kirwan on facing ‘horrible’ club teams
“That’s what I love about the rivals tour because some of the worst games you play when you’re on tour [are against club teams]. I remember playing Randwick, it was just horrible because they were a really good side,” the All Blacks legend said.
“They (Bordeaux) were so superior to Leinster, they’ve got to be worried about that. I saw the interviews afterwards and I know they’re probably going to have a go at Cullen and get rid of him.
“That’s a great season, making the final, but making the final five times and losing, do you think there is a difference at that level between getting there and winning, or do you just think it’s become psychological?
“They were pretty average in that first half, so many errors. They couldn’t get any rhythm because they kept making dumb errors.”
Leinster’s mentality has been questioned over the years having consistently failed to get over the line, but Matfield did not believe that was the case this time around.
“I think it’s because of the pressure [from Bordeaux],” he said. “All the others they were favourites going into it, this year they weren’t the favourites – Bordeaux was definitely the favourite.
“I don’t think the pressure was on them. They also won the URC last year, they got that bogey off their back, I just think they got completely outplayed.”
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