The last time Bath played a crunch Champions Cup game in Bordeaux, their players were forced to take the search for post-match sustenance into their own hands.
Back in 1998, Jeremy Guscott and Co found themselves on the French city’s famous cobbled streets, desperately looking for something to silence their rumbling stomachs. Famished after becoming the first English side to taste European glory, there was only one thing for it – a visit to McDonald’s.
Former Bath full-back Jon Callard, who scored all of his team’s points in their shock 19-18 final success over Brive that year, tells Daily Mail Sport: ‘When we got back to the changing rooms, there was a slab of Heineken which was very kind of the sponsors, but 24 cans didn’t go very far!
‘We put our togs on – one of the benefits of playing in a European final was a nice new suit and shoes – and then we went to the marquee where the post-match dinner was supposed to be.
‘Being in France, we were expecting big things but there were literally a few scraps of lettuce and some empty glasses there for us! There was a nightclub booked for us in Bordeaux afterwards and when we arrived, no one had eaten since the match. Everyone was starving after playing such a big game but fortunately, there was a McDonald’s next door.
‘We all queued up in our suits for “Le Big Mac” and “les frites avec ketchup”. It was surreal. When I look back on it all now, it really added to the occasion. People think it’s a made-up story… but we really did do it and it was just as memorable as the game itself!
‘Jerry won’t mind me telling you this, but he said: “I don’t queue at McDonald’s!” He wouldn’t queue up but still had the cheek to ask for a Big Mac! Personally, I went for two cheeky cheeseburgers.’
Jon Callard lifts the European Cup for Bath in 1998. ‘I missed my first kick and thought, “Jesus, that’s what I’m in the side for!”. Fortunately, it turned out to be a great day after that’
The Bath players celebrate winning the European Cup in 1998, the first English side to taste glory in Europe
Callard scores the only try of the game after a rare assist from Jeremy Guscott
Whatever the result of Bath’s Champions Cup semi-final with Bordeaux on Sunday, both teams won’t be short of fuel after the whistle. There will be no need for Bath’s superstar Finn Russell or Bordeaux’s Galactico Louis Bielle-Biarrey to eat fast food with supporters. Instead piles of high carbohydrate foods will be in the changing room to help with recovery and, while there will be no formal dinner, the players will be up in the hospitality areas of The Stade Atlantique and given the finest cuisine and beverages at the expense of European rugby organisers. A far cry from the ’98 final.
But that game will always be remembered by supporters of the blue, black and white as one of their greatest days. At what is now the Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bath were underdogs against a superstar Brive side who were defending champions after a comfortable victory over Leicester the year before.
The similarities with this year’s semi-final are uncanny. Bordeaux, a talent-packed team, are European Cup holders. They have home advantage, even if the game is being played at The Stade Atlantique – Bordeaux’s football stadium – rather than Stade Chaban-Delmas.
But should Bath need any inspiration, Johann van Graan’s side could do worse than look back to ’98. That year, Bath were not their usual dominant selves, losing the league title they had become used to winning to money-bags Newcastle in the first season of what is now the PREM. The build-up was also dominated by a biting storm – for which prop Kevin Yates was suspended for the final – and a disappointing cup defeat by Richmond. Centre Phil de Glanville was a late arrival to the game due to his wife giving birth.
‘I was transitioning from playing to coaching that season, so was doing both roles,’ Callard remembers. ‘It was a really poor performance against Richmond and unfortunately, Mike Catt didn’t have the best day with the boot.
‘We had a hastily arranged selection meeting the next morning which, as a player-coach, I was in. The other coaches all picked me at No 15 in their team for the final. I was the last to go and picked Matt Perry as the full-back, but I wasn’t going to turn down a European final.’
Callard, now coaching Welsh Premiership side RGC 1404, was a specialist goalkicking No 15 and it was felt that to win the final, Bath couldn’t miss any chances. ‘I got my first shot at goal within five minutes,’ Callard says. ‘It was straightforward, but I missed and as I threw the kicking tee off, I thought to myself: “Jesus, that’s what I’m in the side for!” Fortunately, it turned out to be a great day after that.’
It was indeed, Callard ending the afternoon with a try, a conversion and four penalties. Callard once referred to the assist for his try from England and Lions great Guscott as ‘like hen’s teeth’ given the former centre was so often the scorer himself.
‘I loved my career,’ says Callard, ‘and I’ve been so fortunate to recount some great memories. What our Bath team did for the fans was more important than what the achievement did for us as individuals’
Bath captain Andy Nicol shows off the European Cup after victory over Brive
The Bath fans enjoy their day out in Bordeaux – and their unexpected victory
‘I’m grateful to Jerry because he could have gone himself. He was about two yards away from the line but popped it up to me,’ Callard says.
His try kick-started the McDonald’s-fuelled celebrations, though for the media covering the game, it was very different. Journalists in attendance that day remember a pre-match banquet featuring salmon mousse, oysters and foie gras, washed down with wine from the Bordeaux region.
Brive couldn’t believe they had lost. ‘It was absolutely awful,’ says then captain Alain Penaud, the father of current Bordeaux wing Damian. ‘We were a little bit too confident. Bath were not considered the same way as Leicester the year before. They had some outstanding players like Guscott and Callard, but we lost the game more than they won it.
‘In our final against Leicester, we were outsiders. We knew about Leicester and their forwards, guys like Martin Johnson. We knew they were going to be hard. We were afraid. The year after, we were much more confident. But we had this bad atmosphere in the group. We didn’t have the fear you need to raise your game. We put too much importance on the scrum and that’s why we lost. We forgot we had good backs. If we were a little bit more ambitious with our game…’
To beat Brive, Bath’s forwards had to deliver. They did so, matching the French giants up front and Callard doing the rest. Even then, Brive had two chances to win it in the game’s thrilling final throes.
Bath were one of just four English teams in the competition that year and it was known ahead of the final that even if they won, they wouldn’t be able to defend their title the next season. A row over how European competition income was handed out led to the PREM sides withdrawing.
In 1998, there was a sense of disbelief at Bath’s victory. This time in Bordeaux, Van Graan’s men will travel with confidence and a giant pack capable of matching the French.
‘To beat a French team in France right now is nigh-on impossible, but Bath have got a squad to do it,’ says Callard, who went on to coach with England at the 2007 World Cup and then worked in the RFU’s pathway, helping to bring through stellar talents like Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell, George Ford and Henry Slade.
Bath players (from left) Dave Hilton, Ieuan Evans, Richard Webster, Mike Catt and Nicol with the European Cup
Guscott was a rare talent who shone for Bath, England and the Lions
Bath’s (from left) Victor Ubogu, Catt, Adedayo Adebayo, Hilton and Nigel Redman hold aloft the European Cup
‘They can get parity up front and frustrate the French, as we did. We got more than parity up front. Bath have got power and riches in the pack, guys like Thomas du Toit. Then Ben Spencer and Russell are as good a half-back combination as any in the world. It’s a credit to the club they’ve built a squad under (owner) Bruce Craig and Johann that’s capable of winning the competition.
‘Like our team, this Bath side has a knowledge of how to win and that’s important. They won the treble last season. That gives you confidence. This is the year for them. I hope it will be because it will stop has-beens like me being rolled out!
‘I loved my career and I’ve been so fortunate to recount some great memories. What our Bath team did for the fans was more important than what the achievement did for us as individuals. But I’d love someone else to have that now – guys like Finn, Tom de Glanville, Max Ojomoh, Charlie Ewels, Tom Dunn. Lots of the team are Bath boys.
‘What we achieved put a brick in the Bath foundation. But it would be so nice if this group could go on and make their own history. It would just rubber-stamp how great Bath is. I’m indebted to the club for everything it gave me. It is one of the greatest clubs in the world. The location of the stadium is iconic. Its brand is iconic. Bath has a huge following. If you’ve won a tournament with the club, you’re in an elite group of people.
‘If the current team were to win the European Cup, it would be wonderful for me to see Bath back where they belong – at the top table.’
