22-05-2025
Zinedine who? Bordeaux's rise to rugby-mad city with Europe's biggest crowds
The streets of Bordeaux are prepped to celebrate the fulfilment of a union formed of something old and something new. In the city where French rugby built its first provincial home, a teenaged coalition senses its maiden glory.
Merger is a dirty word in rugby. Time and time and place again, attempts to combine teams are viewed as a sacrifice of history. Better to fail alone than succeed together. Not so much in Bordeaux and, because it's a merger, in Bègles. Though the city of wine carries the cachet, her southern suburb is an equal partner in the club with the highest attendances in Europe, on the cusp of success to match.
Union Bordeaux Bègles, born in 2006, could become European champions on Saturday. As
