European Rugby finals: Leinster and Gloucester to impress

We’ve got European Rugby finals predictions for this week’s Champions Cup and Challenge Cup deciders in Bilbao and are eyeing a 5/2-plus double with our betting tips.

There promises to be a great atmosphere at San Mames in the Basque Country, with plenty of fans from England, France, Ireland and Wales making the pilgrimage to support their teams.

Gloucester to beat Cardiff by more than two points @ 91/100

The action kicks off with the Challenge Cup decider on Friday night and we’re backing Gloucester to lift this trophy for the third time, following past triumphs in 2006 and 2015.

Both teams love to play attacking rugby, but the Cherry and Whites have really impressed in the knockout rounds of this competition.

They came through a tough trip to Connaught with a 33-28 victory before then thrashing Newcastle 33-12 in the semis at Kingsholm and more of the same would be enough to see off the Blues in our book.

Leinster to beat Racing 92 by more than 10 points @ 91/100

Leinster have been pretty much faultless throughout the whole of this season’s tournament, winning all six group games and then claiming two emphatic victories in the knockout rounds.

The Irish province ended Saracens’ hopes of a hat-trick of titles when prevailing 30-19 in the quarter-finals and then brushed aside the Scarlets 38-16 in the semis.

A squad packed full of experienced Ireland internationals is expected to starve their opponents of possession and good field position once again on Saturday.

Racing were beaten 21-9 by Saracens in the final two years ago and another double-digit defeat is on the cards.