BILBAO, Spain (AP) — Bordeaux Bègles blew away Leinster 41-19 in the Champions Cup final and completed a French hat trick of the season's major men’s European titles on Saturday.
France beat Ireland to the Six Nations crown in March, Montpellier dominated Ulster 59-26 in the second-tier Challenge Cup final on Friday, and Bordeaux underlined French rule of Europe by winning back-to-back Champions Cups in brilliant style.
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Leinster's Joe McCarthy dives over to score a try during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Damian Penaud is tackled by Leinster's Tommy O'Brien during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Maxime Lucu celebrates after scoring a try during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Louis Bielle-Biarrey celebrates scoring a try during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Maxime Lucu lifts the trophy after winning the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
“The players understand what they are good at. When you do it once, it becomes easier,” Bordeaux assistant coach Noel McNamara told the BBC.
“We spoke about (Masters golf champion) Rory McIlroy in the lead-up to the quarterfinal against Toulouse. Good players win one green jacket, great players win two. We have fantastic players. They made the decision that one Champions Cup is not enough.”
The final in San Mamés Stadium was as good as over at halftime when Bordeaux led 35-7.
Bordeaux responded to an early try by Leinster wing Tommy O'Brien — picked ahead of fellow Ireland international James Lowe — by scoring five converted tries in 28 minutes.
Captain and scrumhalf Maxime Lucu sniped over for their first try and two were finished impressively by wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey; his ninth and 10th tries of the campaign earned him the player of the tournament. He was also player of the Six Nations.
But the coup de grace was delivered right on halftime when Yoram Moefana intercepted Harry Byrne and scored at the other end.
“You have to credit Bordeaux. Some of their attack in that first half was incredibly hard to deal with,” Leinster captain Caelan Doris told broadcaster Premier Sports.
Lucu expertly organized Bordeaux, nailed all seven of his goalkicks, including a penalty from his own half, and was named the player of the final despite a yellow card for pulling Joe McCarthy's hair.
McCarthy made a diving touch down moments later but it was the only points allowed by Bordeaux while its captain was in the sin-bin.
French clubs have won the last six European Cups while Leinster has lost five finals since its fourth and last title in 2018.
Leinster's Joe McCarthy dives over to score a try during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Damian Penaud is tackled by Leinster's Tommy O'Brien during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Maxime Lucu celebrates after scoring a try during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Louis Bielle-Biarrey celebrates scoring a try during the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
Bordeaux's Maxime Lucu lifts the trophy after winning the European Champions Cup final rugby union match between Leinster and Bordeaux in Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)
ACERRA, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday greeted one by one families who lost loved ones to illegal toxic dumping in an area near Naples, tied to a multi-billion criminal racket run by the mafia.
Many paused to share photographs and other mementos of children and young people who have died or are battling cancer because of the pollution.
Leo's visit to the so-called Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, came on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’ big ecological encyclical Laudato Si (Praised Be), and indicates Leo’s commitment to carry on his predecessor’s environmental agenda.
“I have come first of all to gather the tears of those who have lost loved ones, killed by environmental pollution caused by unscrupulous people and organizations who for too long were able to act with impunity,” Leo said in remarks to family members and local clergy inside Acerra's cathedral.
The pontiff recalled that the area now dubbed the Land of Fires was once called “Campania felix,” Latin for blessed or fruitful countryside, "capable for enchanting for its fertility, its produce and its culture, like a hymn to life.
"And yet — here is death, of the land and of men,'' the pope said.
The European Court of Human Rights last year validated a generation of residents’ complaints that mafia dumping, burial and burning of toxic waste led to an increased rate of cancer and other ailments in the area of 90 municipalities around Caserta and Naples, encompassing a population of 2.9 million people.
The court found Italian authorities had known since 1988 about the toxic pollution, blamed on the Camorra crime syndicate that controls waste disposal, but failed to take necessary steps to protect the residents. The binding ruling gave Italy two years to set up a database about the toxic waste and verified health risks associated with living there.
Bishop Antonio Di Donna estimated 150 young people had died in the city of some 58,000 over the past three decades — emphasizing in his opening remarks that the number didn't take into account adults and victims in other municipalities.
He urged the pope to admonish those who continue to pollute, noting that the dumping of tons of toxic waste was reported a day earlier near Castera. Di Donna said that Italian officials had identified dozens more human-caused contamination sites throughout the country, including the Venetian port of Marghera, and the leaching of PFAS forever chemicals into groundwater near Vicenza.
"We say to those brothers of ours ensnared in evil and seized by a mirage of fabulous earnings: Convert, change your ways, because what you are doing is not only a crime, it is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance,'' the bishop said.
The pope later greeted the mayors of the 90 communities impacted by the toxic dumping, and greeted thousands of people waving yellow flags and chanting “Papa Leone” along the route of his popemobile and in a central piazza.
The victims include Maria Venturato, who died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 25. Her father, Angelo, said he hopes to speak with the pope to explain their reality, “not for me … for the next generation.”
“I’d like to give these young people a future, so I’m asking for the pope’s help with this. That is, I’m making a strong appeal to him to go to those in power and say, ‘Look, let’s heal this land of fires,’" he said on the eve of the pope's visit.
Inside the cathedral, Filomena Carolla presented the pope with a book containing memories from the life of her daughter, Tina De Angelis, who died of cancer at the age of 24.
“I’m just angry at the people who poisoned the soil, because what did our children have to do with it? What did they have to do with it, so young,” Carolla told The Associated Press on Friday.
Francis' plans to visit the area in 2020 were canceled due to the pandemic.
A man presents a pizza with the portrait of Pope Leo XIV during his a one-day pastoral visit in Acerra, Italy, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during his meeting with clergy, religious and families of victims of environmental pollution in the Saint Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Acerra, near Naples, Italy, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV rides on his popemobile during his one-day pastoral visit in Acerra, Italy, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
A man enters a grocery store with posters of Pope Leo XIV ahead of his visit to the southern Italian town of Acerra in the Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Acerra bishop Antonio Di Donna speaks during an interview with the Associated Press ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit to the southern Italian town of Acerra in the Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, an area scarred by decades of pollution from illegal waste dumping and burning, much of it linked to organized criminal groups, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Illegal waste is seen on the side of a road in the outskirts of the southern Italian town of Acerra in the Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, an area scarred by decades of pollution from illegal waste dumping and burning, much of it linked to organized criminal groups, Friday, May 22, 2026, a day ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Illegal waste is seen on the side of a road in the outskirts of the southern Italian town of Acerra in the Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, an area scarred by decades of pollution from illegal waste dumping and burning, much of it linked to organized criminal groups, Friday, May 22, 2026, a day ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Angelo Venturato talks during an interview with the Associated Press next to photos of his daughter Maria who died at the age of 25 of a cancer he claims to be connected to decades of pollution from illegal waste dumping and burning, much of it linked to organized criminal groups, in the southern town of Acerra, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
