French clubs make big Euro statements

SUNDAY WRAP: Defending champions Toulouse produced a stunning opening to their Champions Cup campaign as they hammered Ulster 61-21 in Pool One on Sunday.

Fellow French pretenders Bordeaux-Begles saw off English side Leicester 42-28.

All Black star Jordie Barrett marked his Leinster debut with a try in their 35-12 win at English side Bristol on Sunday.

Six-times champions Toulouse, who led 40-14 at half-time, ran in nine tries at a packed Stade Ernest-Wallon to take a bonus point with French stars Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack both touching down.

There were also two tries each for France lock Emmanuel Meafou and Italy wing Angel Capuozzo, the others coming from Matthis Lebel, Santiago Chocobares and a last minute penalty try.

Ulster, the 1999 champions, dotted down three times but missed out on a fourth which would have netted them a bonus point.

Ulster coach Richie Murphy said it was a “disappointing” performance ahead of next week’s meeting with Bordeaux-Begles in Belfast.

“That’s not a good enough performance for the Ulster jersey,” Murphy said.

“We’ll take a really hard look at ourselves and try and get ourselves right for next week.”

Bordeaux, sitting second in the Top 14 behind Pool One rivals Toulouse, ran in six tries in total in the win over Leicester.

Wallaby No.8 Pete Samu scored two with France flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert converting them all.

Leicester lock Harry Wells burrowed over for the game’s opening try in a high-tempo first 10 minutes of an entertaining match.

Samu hit straight back for the home side, showing a clean pair of heels from 40 metres after a clever inside ball from Jalibert.

Leicester regained the lead at a sell-out 32,000-capacity Stade Chaban-Delmas when Josh Bassett touched down in the corner.

Guido Petti scored from a line-out, the Argentina lock taking a short ball and squirming past Joe Heyes.

French lock Come Joussain then scored to leave Leicester 21-14 up at the break.

Bordeaux came out a different side in the second period, France back Louis Bielle-Barrey crossing for a double either side of a second try for Samu within 10 ultimately decisive minutes.

Nicolas Depoortere then got Bordeaux’s sixth.

Leicester left France with an attacking bonus point, however, as Australian centre Izaia Perese grabbed his team’s fourth try with the final move of the game.

“With the weapons in our armoury, we made it happen and we ‘killed’ them when we had to,” said Bordeaux captain Maxime Lucu.

“They wanted to break us down physically. They underestimated us a bit and we managed to keep our heads. We scored when we needed to.”

All of Sunday’s scores and scorers are below ….

Union Bordeaux-Begles 42-28 Leicester Tigers

The scorers

For Union Bordeaux-Begles Leicester Tigers
Tries: Samu 2, Petti Pagadizabal, Bielle-Biarrey 2, Depoortere
Cons: Jalibert 6

For Leicester Tigers
Tries: Wells, Bassett, Joussain, Perese
Cons: Shillcock 4

Teams:

Bordeaux-Begles: 15 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Nicolas Depoortere, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Arthur Retiere, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu (captain), 8 Pete Samu, 7 Bastien Vergnes, 6 Mahamadou Diaby, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Connor Sa, 17 Ugo Boniface, 18 Carlü Sadie, 19 Adam Coleman, 20 Lachie Swinton, 21 Tevita Tatafu, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Joey Carbery.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Izaia Perese, 12 Solomone Kata, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Jamie Shillcock, 9 Jack van Poortvliet (captain), 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Emeka Ilione, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Come Joussain, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Charlie Clare, 1 James Cronin.
Replacements: 16 Finn Theobald-Thomas, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Will Hurd, 19 Jed Holloway, 20 Kyle Hatherell, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Joe Woodward, 23 Mike Brown.

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia)
Assistant referees: Saba Abulashvili (Georgia), Shota Tevzadze (Georgia)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Stade Toulousain 61-21 Ulster

The scorers

For Stade Toulousain
Tries: Lebel, Ntamack, Meafou 2, Capuozzo 2, Dupont, Chocobares, Penalty try
Cons: Ramos 7, penalty try does not require a conversion

For Ulster
Tries: McCormick, Moore, Henderson
Cons: Doak 3

Teams:

Stade Toulousain: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Ange Capuozzo, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Matthis Lebel, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Alexandre Roumat, 7 Leo Banos, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 David Ainu’u.
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Joel Merkler, 19 Joshua Brennan, 20 Théo Ntamack, 21 Paul Graou, 22 Paul Costes, 23 Juan-Cruz Mallia.

Ulster: 15 Stewart Moore, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Ben Carson, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Mike Lowry, 10 Aidan Morgan, 9 Nathan Doak, 8 James McNabney, 7 Marcus Rea, 6 Matty Rea, 5 Harry Sheridan, 4 Alan O’Connor (captain), 3 Scott Wilson, 2 James McCormick, 1 Andrew Warwick.
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Eric O’Sullivan, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Cormac Izuchukwu, 21 Dave Shanahan, 22 Jude Postlethwaite, 23 Nick Timoney.

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baque (France), Julien Caulier (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)

Bristol Bears 12-35 Leinster

The scorers

For Bristol Bears
Tries: Lahiff, Ibitoye
Con: Janse van Rensburg

For Leinster
Tries: Larmour, Prendergast 2, Barrett, Van der Flier
Cons: Prendergast 5

Teams:

Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Jack Bates, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Bill Mata, 7 Fitz Harding (captain), 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Owen, 4 James Dun, 3 Max Lahiff, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Ellis Genge.
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Lovejoy Chawatama, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Benjamin Grondona, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joe Jenkins, 23 Benjamin Elizalde.

Leinster: 15 Ciaran Frawley, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan (captain), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Max Deegan, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Jack Boyle.
Replacements: 16 Gus McCarthy, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Tom Clarkson, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Jordie Barrett.

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)
Assistant referees: Vincent Blasco Baque (France), Julien Caulier (France)
TMO: Tual Trainini (France)