Tony Rees will take a trip down memory lane in Cardiff this weekend when he returns to the scene of his greatest rugby triumph.
The former Cardiff and Wales A lock holds the distinction of being the first player from the UK and Ireland to win the Heineken Cup with Brive at the old National Ground, Cardiff Arms Park in 1997.
The relatively unknown French club rocked the rugby world in the Welsh capital when they took the full might of England’s champion club Leicester Tigers to school in what was the second European final.
This weekend sees the now Principality Stadium hosting the Investec Champions Cup final between Bordeaux-Begles and Northampton Saints.
That is on Saturday 24 May, with the EPCR Challenge Cup final between Bath and Lyon taking place the night before.
The Brisbane-based Rees is back on home soil to celebrate his 60th birthday next month and will be meeting up with his Brive captain from 27 years ago ahead of the game.
Alain Penaud is returning to the city where he proudly lifted aloft the greatest piece of club rugby silverware to watch his son, Damian, playing in the final for Bordeaux.
The Brive team he led to that stunning 28-19 win over Leicester Tigers celebrated in style and actually left the Heineken Cup in a nightclub.
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They were mightily relieved when a taxi driver arrived at the Copthorne Hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning with the cup.
“We had a great night after the win, starting first in Cardiff Athletic Club and then going around the town. Everyone was drinking out of the cup and we left it somewhere on our travels,” recalled Rees.
“Nobody really missed it, because we all thought someone else had it, but we were mightily relieved when a taxi driver arrived with the cup to return it to us.
“After that we flew home to more celebrations, a tour around the town of Brive and finally a trip to Versailles to meet the then French president Jacques Chirac, who was from the Corezze region.”
As well as outscoring the Tigers by four tries to one, Brive’s 19 point victory margin stood as a record for the final for 15 years.
Rees had started every game up to the final but returned to play for Wales A the week before and had to be content with a seat on the bench on the big day.
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When he came on for the final 13 minutes he wrote his name into the history books as the first British and Irish player to pick up a winners medal.
“Brive have been good enough to host 20th and 25th anniversaries celebrations of our win in 1997. At the time it didn’t dawn on you that you were creating history because we were just in the moment and loving it,” said Rees.
“Nobody expected us to do well, so to reach the final and then play as well as we did was fantastic.
“The style of rugby we played was scintillating and captured the attention of people who watched us.
“The turning point in the season for us was when we beat Harlequins 23-10 at home in a pool game.
“Harlequins had the likes of Will Carling, Robbie Paul, the Llewellyn brothers, Glyn and Gareth, Laurent Cabannes, Keith Wood and Jason Leonard in their side and few gave us a chance.|
“But the crowd came out, backed us to the hilt and gave us the belief we needed. That was the moment it turned around for us.
“There was another turning point for us on the day of the final as we were waiting at some traffic lights on our way into the ground by bus.
“There were Leicester fans everywhere and they started banging on the side of our bus.
“From that moment we decided it was going to be our day because we had nothing to lose.
“We had an understated but pretty dominant pack and then a fantastic back division that boasted five French internationals and one of the quickest wings in the world game.
“We played a fast tempo game and Leicester couldn’t cope with it. After the game Peter Wheeler, the Tigers CEO, cornered me and asked me what the Brive secret was.
“I simply told him we were well organised, well coached, had two athletics coaches and great medical support.
“The rest was down to the camaraderie and spirit within the group.”
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If Damian joins Alain as a European Cup winner with his Bordeaux-Begles the Penaud’s will become only the third family duo to win the title following in the footsteps of Emile Ntamack (Toulouse 1996, 2003) and Romain (Toulouse 2021, 2024) and Trevor Brennan (Toulouse 2003, 2005) and Joshua Brennan (Toulouse 2024).jh.,ea
