Bilbao, 40 degree heat and the enduring romance of European rugby

Bilbao felt like it had been left out in the sun too long. Thursday hit 37 degrees and Friday pushed 40 at times. The heat just sat there, in the streets and off the buildings, making everything slow down a touch.

It was a whole, sweaty mood – as the TikTokers might say. And in a strange way, it suited this European finals weekend perfectly.

This is not a rugby city in the usual sense. It does not live and breathe the sport week to week. There are no deep-rooted club allegiances built into the place. But Bilbao has taken to it in its own way. It has become something like a spiritual home away from home for rugby fans. From the Guggenheim to the narrow streets of the old town, it offers a weekend that well and truly off the beaten track.

The heat, the Spanish feel, and that slightly off-piste rugby backdrop all help. It is why Bilbao is a favourite for so many supporters. But it is not just about the city. There is something about the Champions Cup – and its little brother, the Challenge Cup too – that always draws people in.

Finals weekend is a kind of meeting point. Not just for the four teams involved, but for European rugby fans writ large. You get people from the sport’s heartlands in the UK, Ireland and France, but also plenty from further afield. Some follow the clubs involved, others just follow the competition.

You see it straight away walking through the city.

Club shirts everywhere. As you head towards the San Mamés, there is a mix of colours from across Europe. Harlequins fans sharing a pint with a lone Munster traveller – maybe an ex-Pat? Pathologically optimistic Welsh fans rubbing shoulders with French ProD2 ultras. And many, many amateur clubs on tour, wearing their colours with pride. It all blends into one, heady mix.

There is probably not a rugby club – or indeed nation – that’s not represented in Bilbao this weekend. And it’s not just rugby fans. Plenty of revellers this weekend, you’d venture, flood into the city just for the pints and craic – and that’s absolutely fine too.

San Mamés itself plays its part. It is a brilliant stadium, one of the best-looking in Europe. For rugby fans, it is also a chance to peek behind the curtain of our football cousins and their remarkable arenas – the ones you usually only see on TV.

It adds something to the occasion without needing to try too hard.

But Bilbao isn’t just about the set pieces. It’s the chance encounters too. Chris Robshaw browsing the t-shirt rack in a souvenir shop like any other tourist. Ryan Wilson down by the Guggenheim, half in work mode, half taking it all in. Stephen Ferris strolling through the old town, unbothered, unhurried, part of the same slow build towards kick-off as everyone else. Ex-back-rows love a bit of tourism when not on media duty.

The game, for all its professional sheen, still feels accessible here. The barriers just aren’t there.

What stands out most is the mix of people. Different countries, different clubs, different levels of the game. All of them coming together in the same places. Bars, cafes, streets still full despite the punishing heat. There is an easy feel to it. Conversations start quickly and do not need much of a link beyond rugby.

Bilbao itself is a city of contrasts: charming traditional Basque buildings alongside vast, stunningly modern architectural edifices. You get a similar feeling with the crowd it attracts for a weekend like this. A bit of everything, all in one place.

On the pitch, there’s plenty on the line, but the results are only part of it. They matter, of course, and they will shape how the weekend is remembered in a rugby sense. Still, what happens around the games is just as important in its own way.

Because weekends like this are a reminder of something simple. Rugby, at this level, still manages to bring a wide group of people together. It does not matter where you are from, what club you follow, or even if you have a ticket. You can still feel part of it.

That is why the romance of European rugby endures. It moves from city to city each year, but it carries the same feel with it. It was the same in Cardiff last year. In Bilbao, in that heat, with that mix of people, it felt very clear again.

You could, of course, draw on the lazy cliché of “rugby values” at this point. It’s a hackneyed term that grates, especially in the professional age. We won’t go there. But, if you park the cynicism for a moment, it is hard not to see something genuinely special in the sport on weekends like this.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen may have said it best on Friday. “It’s an incredible tournament to be part of… I hope the organisers protect it.”

Whatever tweaks or changes are made to either competition, the enduring romance of a European finals weekend is very much still alive. Long may it continue.