Our Investec Champions Cup team of the week - round three

Round three of the Investec Champions Cup had its usual share of blowouts with weakened teams being fielded, but it also produced some of the matches of the season so far.

We had last season’s finalists Bordeaux-Begles and Northampton Saints going head-to-head, another former final in Leinster and La Rochelle, as well as Toulouse and Saracens, with nine titles between them, squaring up in London.

These contests produced some world-class displays from the winners and the losers in what was an enthralling round of rugby. So here is the Champions Cup team of the week:

15 Salesi Rayasi (Bordeaux-Begles)
Round three was a weekend of hat-tricks, but there was a lot more to Rayasi’s game than simply three tries in a repeat of last season’s final. His stats were stunning – 16 carries, four line breaks, 141 metres carried, four offloads, nine defenders beaten – all of which he was the match-leader for. The most impressive part of his game, however, was his solo effort that secured the hat-trick shortly after the break.

14 Noah Heward (Bristol Bears)
Three tries to his name and had to do a lot of running in the Pretoria heat to earn his hat-trick in the try-fest against the Bulls. However, his leaping second try in the corner, where he had to do the least running, was probably the best finish.

Fixture

Investec Champions Cup

Glasgow

09:30

18 Jan 26

Saracens

All Stats and Data

13 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors)
The British & Irish Lion was back after a long spell out, but you wouldn’t know it. Glasgow got off to a blistering start at the Stade Marcel Michelin against ASM Clermont Auvergne, and in that period, every touch by Jones seemed to result in something positive.

12 Simeli Daunivucu (La Rochelle)
He may have been on the losing side, but Leinster’s midfield, with 14 missed tackles between them, may not feel like winners after coming up against La Rochelle’s 20-year-old Daunivucu. The young Frenchman broke the line three times, beat 10 defenders and carried 87 metres – all match-leading stats – in a statement display.

11 Rotimi Segun (Saracens)
Harlequins’ hat-trick scorer Nick David, Glasgow’s Kyle Steyn and Sale Sharks Tom O’Flaherty, who both scored braces, may have something to say about this, but given the calibre of opposition, Segun edges this one. The Saracens wing came away with two well-taken tries against Toulouse, but his punch and drive in contact really helped give his side momentum as they earned a vital win in London.

10 Billy Searle (Leicester Tigers)
Was Matthieu Jalibert the best fly-half this weekend given the standard of opposition? Probably. But Searle’s hat-trick, albeit against a severely weakened Bayonne side, deserves credit, and saw him become the competition’s top points scorer this season.

9 Dan Robson (Pau)
Pau were trailing the Scarlets 38-26 when Robson came on from the bench after 55 minutes at the Parc y Scarlets. Fast forward 25 minutes and Pau have secured a 38-47 win with the former England scrum-half named player of the match. The Gloucester-bound scrum-half changed the game, and now Pau have a strong chance of making the last 16 with a visit from the Bulls this weekend.

1 Max Lahiff (Bristol Bears)
Scrummaging against one Springbok prop is tough, but having to scrummage against three in one match – Wilco Louw, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Gerhard Steenekamp – could well be the tenth circle of hell. But, having switched to tighthead midway through the match, Lahiff faced that ordeal. It didn’t all go his way, but he deserves a place in the team for that effort, with a try to his name as well.

2 Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh)
Ashman was part of a front-row overhaul made by Sean Everitt against Gloucester on Friday, coming on after 30 minutes with the hosts trailing. His try 10 minutes into the second half was the catalyst for Edinburgh’s comeback, but he also brought a physical edge up front that had been missing in the Scottish capital.

3 Carlu Sadie (Bordeaux-Begles)
Bordeaux’s early dominance all emanated from the scrum, which resulted in Danilo Fischetti being yellow-carded after having a tough time opposite Sadie. His replacement, Emmanuel Iyogun, did a better job, but Sadie laid the platform for Bordeaux’s dominance.

4 Ben Bamber (Sale Sharks)
Up against a weakened Sharks team, Bamber did what he does best – take names in defence. 19 tackles, four of which were dominant tackles, gave Sale superiority up front in a match that was largely an attritional forwards battle.

5 Joe McCarthy (Joe McCarthy)
Tasked with keeping Will Skelton, the historical nemesis of Leinster, at bay, McCarthy handled the hulking Wallaby reasonably well, while also making his own presence felt with his carrying.

6 Cameron Woki (Bordeaux-Begles)
Yet another hat-trick scorer, feasting on Northampton errors like any good flanker. In truth, Edinburgh’s Freddy Douglas put in a stronger display in a victory over Gloucester with five turnovers to his name, but the game is about tries ultimately.

7 Levani Botia (La Rochelle)
Another defeated La Rochelle player, but Fiji’s Botia deserved to be victorious. At times, the match seemed like the Botia show, such was his influence on the contest. He led his side for tackles; he led the match for turnovers, three, but it was his attacking threat that plagued Leinster so much.

8 Tom Willis (Saracens)
Up against his brother, it was Tom Willis who reigned supreme over Jack Willis, though only just. The Saracen was at his snorting, bucking best in contact, and went toe-to-toe with his brother at the breakdown.