Leinster’s No 10 and the La Rochelle coach have put a ‘tricky relationship’ behind them before Marseille showdown
Forget the Cannes film festival which has been running all week. If people want to enjoy absorbing, character-heavy drama they need only venture down the Mediterranean coast to the Stade Vélodrome where a brooding, Shakespearean-style duel awaits. For Romeo and Tybalt, read Johnny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara.
Because while Saturday afternoon’s Champions Cup final is nominally between Leinster and La Rochelle, there should be a twinkling neon sign outside the ground with the strapline: “When Johnny met ROG”. Two great Irish No 10s, two of rugby’s most relentlessly competitive men, only one winners’ podium.