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Investec Champions Cup

Damian Penaud switches position for UBB, Toulouse make one change

Damian Penaud of Union Bordeaux Bègles during the Investec Champions Cup match between Union Bordeaux Begles and Leicester Tigers at Stade Chaban-Delmas on April 5, 2026 in Bordeaux, France. (Photo by Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)
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Damian Penaud will line up in the centre for Union Bordeaux Bègles after switching position for the visit of Stade Toulousain in their mouthwatering, all-French Investec Champions Cup quarter-final encounter at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday.

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The currently snubbed France international is named at outside centre alongside Yoram Moefana. Penaud has played 24 per cent of his career in the midfield, so it’s no stranger to the position.

Penaud’s redeployment is the headline call from UBB, who have also opted for a 6–2 split on the bench.

VIDEO

Back-row Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer drops to the pine and is replaced by Pierre Bochaton. He is joined there by Temo Matiu, Arthur Retière and Hugo Reus.

Hat-trick hero Salesi Rayasi starts at fullback once again, while Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Pablo Uberti are selected on the wings.

Fixture
Investec Champions Cup
Bordeaux
30 - 15
Full-time
Toulouse
All Stats and Data

Matthieu Jalibert and captain Maxime Lucu continue as the half-back pairing, behind a pack led by Jefferson Poirot, evergreen former Wallaby turned Tonga international Adam Coleman, and Maxime Lamothe.

Toulouse have also gone with a 6–2 bench as they welcome back several frontline figures.

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Antoine Dupont captains the side from scrum-half, with Romain Ntamack at 10 and Thomas Ramos at fullback. In midfield, Santiago Chocobares comes in after Pierre-Louis Barassi was ruled out, partnering Kalvin Gourgues.

On the bench, Julien Marchand replaces Thomas Lacombre at hooker, Cyril Baille comes in for Paul Mallez at loosehead, while Paul Graou joins moves up as Chocobares moves into the starting line-up.

Union Bordeaux Bègles: 15. Salesi Rayasi, 14. Pablo Uberti, 13. Damian Penaud, 12. Yoram Moefana, 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10. Matthieu Jalibert, 9. Maxime Lucu (c), 1. Jefferson Poirot, 2. Maxime Lamothe, 3. Carlü Sadie, 4. Boris Palu, 5. Adam Coleman, 6. Pierre Bochaton, 7. Cameron Woki, 8. Marko Gazzotti

Replacements: 16. Gaetan Barlot, 17. Matis Perchaud, 18. Ben Tameifuna, 19. Tiaan Jacobs, 20. Bastien Vergnes-Taillefer, 21. Temo Matiu, 22. Arthur Retiere, 23. Hugo Reus

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Stade Toulousain: 15. Thomas Ramos, 14. Teddy Thomas, 13. Kalvin Gourgues, 12. Santiago Chocobares, 11. Matthis Lebel, 10. Romain Ntamack, 9. Antoine Dupont (c), 1. David Ainu’u, 2. Peato Mauvaka, 3. Dorian Aldegheri, 4. Thibaud Flament, 5. Emmanuel Meafou, 6. François Cros, 7. Jack Willis, 8. Anthony Jelonch

Replacements: 16. Julien Marchand, 17. Cyril Baille, 18. Joel Merkler, 19. Joshua Brennan, 20. Leo Banos, 21. Théo Ntamack, 22. Paul Graou, 23. Blair Kinghorn

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Comments

2 Comments
S
SB 44 days ago

Superstars galore.

N
NK 45 days ago

Penaud is not switching position, he started at outside center last Sunday. The only change for UBB is Bochaton replacing Vergnes-Taillefer.

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Comments on RugbyPass

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GodOfFriedChicken 32 minutes ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

Lol you say this as if it’s not a normal thing in most professional sports… or that players don’t move all the time. A number of our top players already move out of their home towns as early as high school to seek opportunities - just look at the number of players who go to places like Hamilton Boys or St Kents and then go on to move to places like Canterbury. They don’t even need to stay in the same place forever if they’re drafted - a 3 year entry contract and then go home if they want. In an ideal world, more top home grown talent stays home out of their own volition but let’s be honest, that’s not the case. Otherwise, Manawatu could’ve had the whole Whitelock family and Codie Taylor (and then possibly the Hurricanes), who all happily moved away to play down South.

14 Go to comments
R
Rabble 40 minutes ago
Aussie Super Rugby takes: Reds' key men, Dylan Pietsch Australians form winger

The Waratahs can't make the finals. Even if they get a try bonus point AND improve their for and against by 1000 points, AND the Reds lose without a bonus point, the Reds still will have more wins.

4 Go to comments
L
Lofty 1 hour ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

Not sure what you Irish lads expect or where you're beef is but which is the only team, with 4 stars already, to appear in the last FIVE finals ? Yes they came 2nd each time but to get there it takes an awesome team. I wish the RFU and Premiership idiots could create that kind of side in the longterm. Leinster, I wish they weren't, are absolute class

7 Go to comments
T
TheNotoriousFig 1 hour ago
Four issues Leinster need to fix to close Champions Cup gap

I am going to be curious to see which Joey Carbery shows up next season. If he can bring something else to the table and nail his kicks then he can play his way in to the World Cup. Overall, all the senior players mentioned here are going to be nursed through the World Cup but that Leinster team needs a serious reset.

1 Go to comments
T
TheNotoriousFig 1 hour ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

I don’t know if he’s right. There is something missing but it is unclear from here what it is. That game was a bunch of ‘ifs and maybes’ and UBB made their own luck with much faster line speed and much more variety in attack. Smart coaching, great players and a pack that never stepped back. Leinster were not nearly sharp enough.

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TokoRFC 2 hours ago
‘Little bit of Ben Smith: Breakdown panel compares All Blacks bolter to former star

Interesting stat about Moorby in France.

I think you’re right Blackmania, the Hurricanes outside backs are playing well but they are benefiting a lot from the work being done inside them. JRK looks consistently good in an underperforming landers side, I’m more interested to see how he would go, perhaps in the 14 jersey



...

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c
cnw 3 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

NBs clips show part of the answer. When they ABs put Holland at Six it powdered up the scrum massively, so much so they either matched up or won the following scrums. This happened both the Auckland and Wellington tests. It’s what I call going 3x4/5 much like England is now doing with Chessum. On England, that test needs to be treated with care, because the real struggles there happened with the team lost Codie Taylor. The problem is getting the balance between power and mobility. This is why I think moving someone like Vaa’i or SB to six, would help with this power / mass issue as well as keep the mobility. There are some 6’s too that have proven very good at scrum time, TK Howden for example is part of an excellent Highlanders scrum who have literally overwhelmed every other scrum in the SR - including the Canes on the weekend. Everyone has there eyes on Casey - but Howden is key to their scrum success in my view. Then the ABs must go 6–2 to maintain mass : energy through the 80 minutes - and with that a 4x4/5 strategy.

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A
AM 5 hours ago
Finger of blame quickly pointed after Leinster's Champions Cup beatdown

All very interesting , the blame game comes to the fore as rugby inexorably trends to the less attractive side already prevalent in soccer. Whilst I am no great fan of Leo Cullen as a coach I imagine there will be many Irish fans from munster, ulster and contact who are quietly pleased the the Leinster takes all the talent first experience has failed. Having said that the coaches don’t miss the tackles, drop the ball, give away the penalties etc and must take some ownership for their latest fall at the final hurdle. Tge better side on the day clearly deserved to win and had the game not been over by half time UBB may have gone on to score many more points.

In any spirts environment it does the sport in general no good at all for all the best players to be in one club, sooner or later someone bigger and better comes along, in this case UBB



...

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E
Ed the Duck 5 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

Dream on Eric old bean! 😂

7 Go to comments
R
Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 6 hours ago
'Tried and true': Ex-All Black winger Rico Gear assesses the options out wide for Dave Rennie

WTH is Gear talking about here? Rennie has a very short runway to the World Cup so selecting players that are leaving like Reece is an absolute idiotic call…it’s seconded only by selecting players that haven’t been in form since 2022. There is a long list of wingers that are better than these 2…Clarke, Moorby, Naholo, Carter, Narawa, Faainganuku, Jordan, RTK, Fihaki

38 Go to comments
J
Jfp123 6 hours ago
Johnnie Beattie: 'With smart recruitment, Bordeaux-Begles could dominate Europe for 10 years'

Why do you assume they will achieve a deeper squad? Isn’t that what every team is aiming for, but not all succeed.

12 Go to comments
S
SB 7 hours ago
Aussie Super Rugby takes: Reds' key men, Dylan Pietsch Australians form winger

The Wallabies will have a back 3 problem but a good one. Not sure who will be picked as there are plenty of options.

4 Go to comments
c
cnw 7 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Hey PMcD starting to feel the NH bias in these comments 😂. The only teams to beat the Boks last year came from the Southern Hemisphere and whose players mainly play in the SR?

432 Go to comments
P
PH 7 hours ago
Pablo Bouza: 'Spain's goal is to qualify for the knockouts at Rugby World Cup 2027'

Spain will be wanting to make up for lost time, after eligibility issues prevented them from appearing in last two Rugby World Cup's. They will surely be targeting a victory over Canada in Australia in 2027 and a potential last 16 spot, which would present a significant milestone in the development of Spanish rugby.

2 Go to comments
H
Hammer Head 7 hours ago
A number of 'top South African players' linked with Stormers

me too.

How’s the knee?



...

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E
Eric Elwood 7 hours ago
Cullen’s bunker mindset may be double-edged sword as Leinster try to become ‘supermen for a day’

Follow the thread genius. Talk to the poster who claimed that Leinster were stealing players from other provinces.

25 Go to comments
c
cnw 7 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Precision or blunt PMcD? From memory the ABs had the best strike rate from set play. The performance in Auckland last year against the Boks is the exemplar. Totally agree they seem to have lost their counter attack as NBs various articles show. But the “vaunted” 2023 ABs also had their bad days, as did the 2020-2022 ABs. The loss in the final of the WC - while affected by the red card - also showed that their attack struggled against the Boks defence and as it did against the French too. Fundamental change was needed. We needed structures that could build go to consistent pressure - Razor was clearly trying to do that. And mostly succeeded (though with spectacular failures - like all teams over the last 12 months). There were clearly some missing pieces - and as you rightly point out - the failure to go 6-2 at key times revealed that he definitely needed input from outside the tent and as NB was suggesting last year - someone from the NH like O’Gara would have been ideal.

432 Go to comments
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Eric Elwood 7 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

There is nothing to suggest they would have. Toulouse lost twice to Glasgow and Saracens in the pool. Northampton were hammerred in the pool without Bordeaux getting out of 2nd gear. Bath did OK, but they were picked apart too, and Leinster hammerred Bath last year. No evidence for what you say and Leinster could have done with stronger opposition before the final as they have had to face in other years. Its a particularly strong run of great French club teams, the strongets ever, and Leinster unlucky to be there or there about against such strenght. They will be back.

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c
cnw 8 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

NB I have stayed away from this dialogue about Razor because hey I am a bit tired of being the lone discordant voice in this chorus. I agree that his systems struggled under pressure. I also agree with your analysis last year that he needed to bring in some outside the tent expertise to help him reignite the open field attack (eg an O’Gara). But the theme here that he was directionless and lacked nous is wrong and revisionist in my view. He was clearly trying to bring to the ABs a structured power game and it was building momentum. The wins against good opposition, including the Boks, Ireland, Scotland, Australia (who at that stage had just beaten the Boks and the Lions) and Argentina showed this. The loses were bad - but hey who has not had shockingly bad losses in the last 12 months - the Boks, France, Ireland, Scotland, Argentina, Australia, and England all included. Yet the history now seems to be that Razor lacked the basic skills to be a good coach based largely on second hand reports of player reactions. Against this we have the inside view of NZ’s most astute coach ever, Smith, who was happy with the direction he was taking. Did Razor have his faults and was he struggling to get his message through - seems so. Did he need help - for sure. But he was the second most successful coach last year in the world with a team still transitioning from a dynasty that had well and truly had its day. Rennie has inherited that base - and I really look forward to what he will bring - but just don’t agree that Razor was the lost coach most are now making him out to be.

432 Go to comments
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Ed the Duck 8 hours ago
'It’s not like we’re a million miles away': Leo Cullen on the growing gap

Exactly, UBB didn’t need to move beyond second gear after half time.

7 Go to comments
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