Leinster scrumhalf relishing Bordeaux challenge and the chance to end final heartache Jamison Gibson-Park and Leinster are well prepared for Bordeaux test in Champions Cup showdown. Photograph: Grace Halton/Inpho Fri May 22 2026 - 06:00 • 4 MIN READEight years ago, Jamison Gibson-Park found himself in a selection crapshoot – three-into-two doesn’t go – in relation to the EPCR rule that stated no team was permitted to field more than two “non-European” players in a matchday 23 in the tournament.Leinster head coach Leo Cullen had to choose between two of Gibson-Park, Australian international Scott Fardy and Kiwi James Lowe to play against Racing 92 in the 2018 Champions Cup final. South Africa and the Pacific Islands were exempt from the ruling, meaning Fijian Isa Nacewa, Leinster’s placekicking hero that day, did not count in the “non-European” tally. Lowe was the one to miss out on the province’s 15-12 victory over Racing 92 in the San Mamés stadium. The Irish province returns to Bilbao on Saturday when they take on reigning champions Bordeaux-Bègles desperate to add that fifth star to the jersey. Gibson-Park, who had arrived in Ireland from New Zealand in 2016, received a quick immersion in what European rugby meant to the club in his first season.“I suppose I got a pretty good grasp on the first year. We lost to Clermont in the semi-final [in 2017]. I think at that stage I understood how much the competition meant to this club,” he says.An injury to Luke McGrath in the quarter-final in 2018 meant Gibson-Park was in the starting team for the semi-final before being named in the replacements for the final against Racing. “It was kind of an interesting time for me personally with the rule,” Gibson-Park says. Scott came in and [it meant] missing out on a few big games, which was kind of weird looking back on it now. But I suppose it’s part of the journey, and yes, I have fond memories of that game, that day, and sitting on the bench. If you guys were there, there was this crazy tension in the stadium, and it was just awesome. James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park celebrate with the European Rugby Champions Cup trophy