Devin Toner had a view of the late drop goal. Not quite the best vantage point, but a viewing experience all the same. The Leinster lock found himself at the bottom of a ruck, peering out between limbs as Rémi Talès stood in the pocket.
It was supposed to be Dan Carter dropping back to decide the game. Named at outhalf for Racing 92, the All Black withdrew from the squad an hour before kick-off. South Africa’s Patrick Lambie replaced him, only to suffer a knee injury three minutes in.
Enter Talès, a French international with 24 caps.
Had his drop goal landed on target, the 2018 Champions Cup final would have gone to extra-time. A poorly-struck shank sailed wide left. With Leinster returning to Bilbao on Saturday, the scene of their last European triumph eight years on, memories inevitably start flowing.
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2018 was a year of significant success for Irish rugby. Leinster won a domestic and European double. Ireland secured a St Patrick’s Day grand slam at Twickenham and a series win in Australia. During this period, James Ryan started his professional career with 23 consecutive victories.
That Bilbao final tends not to be remembered as fondly as the other trophies. The game itself didn’t help, a try-less encounter decided by a kicking battle in the rain. Isa Nacewa and Johnny Sexton combined for 15 points from the tee, bettering Racing’s total of 12.
“It’s quite a forgettable game,” says Toner. “I was looking at the highlights and it’s just people kicking penalties.
“But it was huge for me, I was on the bench for the last three finals [in 2009, 2011 and 2012]. That was the first year where I was involved more, I felt like a leader in the team and was starting all year. It definitely meant more to me.”
The day was memorable as much as anything for the headwear sported by Racing when leaving the changing room. Toner saw the funny side of Parisian fashion being forced on a former Ireland colleague. “Donnacha Ryan, from Tipperary, had to wear a beret,” he says with a laugh.
“I remember prepping because Donnacha and Leone Nakarawa were in their secondrow. I’d know Donnacha well, we know how each other works at lineout time.”
“They did a good job of squeezing us, they kicked really well,” says Scott Fardy, Leinster’s Wallaby starting in the backrow that day. “Every time we thought we’d gotten into the game, they kicked back into our half. We couldn’t break them down, defensively they were very physical.
“We didn’t play to our best but when it came down to it, we won a couple of big moments. I was hit off the ball and Isa kicked a penalty to level things up. We scraped a win.”
A gritty victory was in stark contrast to Leinster’s performances that year. Fardy called their approach under Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster “total rugby”. A Cruyff fan or otherwise, he certainly appreciated playing at the home of Athletic Club Bilbao.
“I like how tight those football grounds are,” he says. “With Leinster, I played there, St James’ Park, Celtic Park, you feel like people are on top of you.
“We played total rugby. We kicked well, ran well, defended well, did all parts evenly. We backed our defence and scored a lot of points. It was enjoyable to be part of feeling like we could score any time and hold our line.”
Perhaps a sign of that “total” approach, backrow Dan Leavy led Leinster for both carries and tackles on that day. “I remember finishing the final in Bilbao, which was a horrible, tit-for-tat dogfight – just an arm wrestle from minute one,” Leavy said to The Times.
“We celebrated but I hopped on the bus to fly back to Dublin and said to Devin Toner: ‘I’m not actually too happy with how I played. I know I should be happy, but I’m kinda pissed at myself.’ Dev was like: ‘You are mental. You have to enjoy this.’”
“That team was very fortunate to win a lot of things,” says Toner. “It’s only when you look back after losses, you appreciate how hard it is to win. You need to relish it when it happens.”
“That was the first main trophy I picked up,” says Fardy, who was part of Australia’s World Cup final defeat in 2015. “I didn’t know how to celebrate, I’m not the best at that. It was a fantastic moment, at 33 almost 34 years of age, winning my first trophy.”
Bilbao ended a six-year gap for Leinster without a European crown. Relief was the dominant emotion then but expect something more should the latest drought, now at eight years, be quenched on Saturday. Final defeats have made this group more desperate than their 2018 equivalent.
“Probably,” says Toner. “We were dying to get over the line as well, don’t get me wrong but we were hugely confident because of how we played that year, we went unbeaten for so long. We hadn’t gone through the same final defeats.”
Eight years ago may well have been an anticlimactic end to their latest successful European run. Back in Bilbao for the first time since, Leinster would take it all over again.
