Jooste hat-trick helps Bulls destroy Stade Francais in Champions Cup

MATCH REPORT: The Bulls made an emphatic start to their Champions Cup campaign as they pummelled Stade Francais Paris 56-20 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Johan Ackermann’s side outscored the French visitors by eight tries to two to secure the bonus point.

Wing Cheswill Jooste scored three of those tries in the Pool Four encounter while Handre Pollard made it eight out of eight with his conversions.

It was an amazing start for the Bulls with Jooste chasing the ball after a grubber by Harold Voster before dotting the ball down after just 20 seconds.

Ten minutes later, the visitors were finally on the board after flyhalf Ihaia West converted a penalty into three points.

However, after some more pressure with ball in hand, the Bulls were in again in the 16th minute, and this time it was Cobus Wiese who powered over for the five points.

The home side had a try disallowed in the 26th minute, and a few minutes later, Louis Foursans-Bourdette reduced the Bulls’ lead to eight points with a penalty goal.

Cameron Hanekom was the next player to terrorise the Parisians when he took a quick-tap penalty before going over for his side’s third try.

At half-time, it was 21-6 to the Bulls.

Stade Francais scored first in the second half after relentless pressure, and it was lock Jacques Botha who found himself on the scoresheet.

The game turned into a see-saw affair with Marco van Staden scoring the Bulls’ fourth try before the visitors hit back when Petero Mailulu powered over for a five-pointer.

With 20 minutes left, there were only eight points in it.

However, replacement loose forward Jeandre Rudolph produced some magic in the 63rd minute when he chipped and chased his own kick ahead before gathering to score a brilliant try.

The Bulls were making good use of their kicking game, and Jan-Hendrik Wessels was the player to pounce on a ball before it went dead in Stade Francais’ in-goal to score the sixth try.

It was the Jooste show after that, with the winger completing his hat-trick with two tries in a couple of minutes. The last one was brilliant as he showed off his speed once to run around defenders.

Man of the match: There were several candidates from the Bulls, but we gave our award to win Cheswill Jooste, who was a constant threat out wide, and he scored three tries,

The scorers:

For Bulls:
Tries: Jooste 3, Wiese, Hanekom, Van Staden, Rudolph, Wessels
Cons: Pollard 8

For Stade Français:
Tries: Botha, Mailulu
Cons: Foursans-Bourdette 2
Pens: West, Foursans-Bourdette

Teams:

Bulls: 15 Luan Giliomee, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Cheswill Jooste, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Alu Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Jaco Grobbelaar, 20 Jeandre Rudolph, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Stravino Jacobs, 23 Willie le Roux.

Stade Français: 15 Leo Monin, 14 Aisake Nawaqadrua, 13 Freddy Duguivalu, 12 Julien Delbouis, 11 Lester Etien, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Martin Blum, 8 Juan-Martin Scelzo (captain), 7 Mathieu Hirigoyen, 6 Pierre Huguet, 5 Fabrice Metz, 4 Jacques Botha, 3 Moses Alo-Emile, 2 Alvaro Garcia Albo, 1 Thomas Bue.
Replacements: 16 Ethan Tia, 17 Sergo Abramishvili, 18 Braxton Asi, 19 Petero Mailulu, 20 Setareki Turagacoke, 21 Louis Foursans-Bourdette, 22 Samuel Ezeala, 23 Rufus McLean.

Referee: Christoph Ridley (England)
Assistant referees: George Selwood (England), Jamie Parr (England)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)