Following a 46-33 victory for Union Bordeaux-Begles over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, here are our winners and losers from the Investec Champions Cup clash.
Winners
Matthieu Jalibert
The fly-half has had a frustrating time of it at Test level, with questions around his relationship with France head coach Fabien Galthie, but he is never anything other than excellent for Bordeaux. This was another classy display from Jalibert, who set the tone early on by igniting a move from deep, which ended in Damian Penaud touching down.
Jalibert would continue to threaten with ball in hand while his option-taking in a see-saw encounter was generally very good. And when it came to the decisive moments late on, the playmaker took control and got his side over the line. He was taken off in the final 10 minutes but, by that point, the job had effectively been done.
Investec Champions Cup
On a weekend which has once again seen teams field weakened sides, potentially leading to some mismatches, it was refreshing to see both these sides at full strength. As a result, it proved to be a fantastic game and one that showcased the best of the Champions Cup.
This is a tournament which has, quite rightly at times, had its critics over recent seasons, but this encounter showed that the pool stages can still serve up some high-quality, thrilling encounters. Ultimately, the defending champions’ class came through, but the Bulls were magnificent in the first half.
Bordeaux bench
Johan Ackermann kept his Springboks front-row in reserve, hoping that Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw would do what they did for the Springboks in November, but it was the visitors who had the greater impact from their replacements.
You have to also give credit to the starters such as Boris Palu, Temo Matiu and Maxime Lucu, who stepped up when they needed to, but the UBB reserves gave them real punch in the latter stages. Salesi Rayasi was particularly outstanding as the former Hurricanes back tore the Bulls’ defence apart.
Jeandre Rudolph
The 31-year-old has been one of the best signings in the United Rugby Championship so far this season and the back-row once again impressed after coming on as a replacement for Marco van Staden.
Rudolph carried hard during his stint on the field, regularly getting side over the gain line, and he was rewarded with a try on the stroke of half-time. It was another superb showing from the back-rower, who didn’t really deserve to be on the losing team.
Bulls wings
It was a fascinating battle between the two sets of wings but it was arguably Canan Moodie and Sebastian de Klerk who edged the duel. While Louis Bielle-Biarrey touched down twice, Moodie caused him plenty of problems in the air, while he was also a massive threat with ball in hand.
Damian Penaud also scored but he was rather wasteful at times, whereas De Klerk was a constant threat on his wing. He did wane as UBB got on top, but the South African speedster, who is on the fringes of the Springboks squad, still had his moments.
Losers
David Kriel
While Bordeaux were always going to remain a threat, Kriel gave them a helping hand – quite literally. In fairness, it was a dangerous attack and the visitors had men over on the left, but the Bulls centre could not resist sticking his right arm out.
It resulted in a deliberate knock-on and a yellow card, with UBB taking advantage of his absence by reducing arrears through Palu. Although his team-mates displayed tremendous resilience by holding their opponents up over the line on a couple of occasions while he was off the field, thus preventing further damage, Kriel’s actions altered the momentum.
Handre Pollard
On the basis of his first 50 minutes, Pollard would have been winner but, like Kriel, he copped a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. That in itself did not necessarily prove costly but, once the double Rugby World Cup winner returned from the sin-bin, he was not the same player.
With the Bulls 34-33 in arrears and on the Bordeaux 22, it looked like he would set up for the drop-goal, but instead the fly-half produced an aimless kick into the arms of a visiting player. The chance was gone, and a couple of minutes later, UBB scored again, ending their hopes of an opening Champions Cup win. It was a shocker of a final quarter from the Springboks playmaker.
Defence coaches
The conditions were good and playing at altitude can certainly open the space for the respective backlines, but the defence coaches still wouldn’t have been very happy with what they saw. There was some brilliant attacking rugby but, at the same time, too many bad reads and missed tackles by individuals.
After the break, it was only one-way traffic, however. The Bulls’ rearguard was improved to some degree as they showed some tremendous goal-line defence, but the pressure was unrelenting, and they eventually folded, conceding four tries in the final half-hour.
Marco van Staden
The flanker has done brilliantly well to get himself back into the Springboks reckoning and has been a key player for them this season, but back in a Bulls shirt he was unfortunately replaced early on due to injury. Hopefully, it is not too serious and Van Staden is back out on the field soon.