Pair of aces who fill our hearts with joy

IF THE level of mastery is unusually high, the depth of mystery is unfathomable.

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Over there on the right wing, the languid Damian Penaud somehow renders opponents incapable of distinguishing between a half-hearted saunter and a breaking of the land speed record; over here on the left, Louis Bielle-Biarrey petrifies defenders into thinking he could leave them for dead without bothering to move at all.

From where did it spring, this extraordinary outpouring of threat, deception and execution? There is not the merest hint of a clue to be found anywhere, least of all in the pages of a thousand self-improvement guides inspired by the once-popular, but eminently debunkable idea that 10,000 hours of repetitive practice can fill the void left by a shortage of natural talent. No one gets to copy Penaud or Bielle-Biarrey, no matter how hard they try, even in the age of AI. There is nothing of the machine in either of them.

In helping Bordeaux Begles to a first Champions Cup title in Cardiff last weekend, they posed an entirely different question-and, it is possible to argue, provided an immediate answer. Can we now say that the two Frenchmen are the most exhilarating wing combination to play for the same club side in the professional era? We can and we should.