'England needs Ireland and Ireland needs England' - Paul Nicholls on Punchestown

Paul Nicholls hailed Clan Des Obeaux's win in the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup as "the icing on the cake for the season" and intends to do it all again in 2022.

The nine-year-old was a welcome British-trained winner in a spring dominated by the Irish when making most of the running under Sam Twiston-Davies in Wednesday's Grade 1 to deny dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo.

It capped a superb end to the season for Nicholls, crowned champion trainer for the 12th time at Sandown last Saturday. Clan Des Obeaux could have appeared at that meeting had the Ditcheat trainer and owners Paul and Marianne Barber, Ged Mason and Sir Alex Ferguson not opted to supplement him for Punchestown last week.