Two finals, two cities and two farewells, a little less than two hours apart. At 6.15pm on Saturday evening in Dublin Brian O’Driscoll, the most capped player in the history of international rugby, will start the final game of his professional career, the Pro12 final between Leinster and Glasgow. And at 8pm in Paris, just as that match is coming to a close, Jonny Wilkinson, who has scored more points in Tests than anyone other than Dan Carter, will be beginning his own last hurrah, for Toulon in the Top 14 final against Castres. Come Sunday morning, rugby will look and feel a little different for the lack of two of the greatest players the game has known.
There’s no doubt who the neutrals will be rooting for, even though both Toulon and Leinster start as favourites, although the former lost to Castres in last year’s final, 19-14. Typically this year’s match would be billed as a reprise, a bid for revenge but that storyline has been entirely overshadowed by Wilkinson’s retirement. The club have just confirmed that he will be joining their coaching staff next season, though he won’t be working with them full-time. It seems that they have created a job just so they can keep him around.
They hold him in such esteem that they have created special jerseys for the match, with the words “Merci Jonny” stitched across the inside of their collars. Their owner, Mourad Boudjellal, said this week: “I don’t know if this will be the biggest trophy that we win at Toulon, but it will be the most moving.”
The Top 14 is one of the few trophies Wilkinson could have won that he has not yet got his hands on. Last year, Boudjellal explained, Toulon made the mistake of underestimating Castres and were undone by a wonderful performance from the South African scrum-half, Rory Kockott. Boudjellal says they will not make that error again, but also feels that “[even] with all the respect I have for Castres, we cannot fail”.
Castres finished sixth in the regular season, in the last qualifying spot for the play-offs, and only achieved that because Toulon beat Stade Français in the final round. Even Wilkinson’s opposite number, Castres fly-half Rémi Talès, has said that he is “lucky to be playing against Jonny in his last match” and that he feels it is “a great honour”.
Leinster, on the other hand, are looking to defend the title they won when they beat Ulster 24-18 in last year’s final. They will play Glasgow, who qualified after winning nine games in a row, a run that stretches right back to a 28-25 loss to Leinster at the RDS in March. It is their first appearance in a league final.
Leinster have been in the last five in succession. Their talismanic captain Leo Cullen – “the heartbeat of the side,” according to O’Driscoll – will also be retiring after the final. Like Wilkinson, he will be taking up a coaching job with his club.
The Glasgow coach, Gregor Townsend, has been trying to underplay the significance of it being O’Driscoll’s last match, insisting that “finals are very emotional anyway” and that “there are always players leaving at the end of the season”. That may be, but there’s never been another pair like Wilkinson and O’Driscoll.
Leinster v Glasgow, , 6.15pm, live on BBC Alba (Sky channel 143) and BBC2 Scotland (Sky channel 970); Toulon v Castres, , 8pm, live on BT Sport 1
