European Champions Cup Rugby: Team of the Week

14: Sebastian de Klerk (Bulls)

His best game for the Bulls so far. Solid overall and worked hard off his wing. Combined particularly well with Le Roux and defused a dangerous dink.

13: Stedman Gans (Bulls)

In his element. Brought elusive footwork and deft offloads to the table, such as the chicken wing flick to Le Roux that led to Kriel’s try.

12: David Kriel (Bulls) – Player of the Week

The in-form Bulls centre’s physically is what stood out most in his Man of the Match performance. Trucked opposite number Pablo Uberti early on with one of his match-high 12 carries, made an unrivalled 72 metres, ran in the bonus point try and was uber-aggressive on the defensive line. 

11: Devon Williams (Bulls)

The regular fullback looked comfortable on the wing. Scored a try and wrangled Madosh Tambwe in a memorable head-to-head contest just before halftime.

10: Johan Goosen (Bulls)

Good all-around outing. Freed his arms on attack, mixing short and long passes, including a beautiful ball to put Williams over in the corner. Excellent line and goal-kicking (10 points) and produced a slick jackal.

9: Embrose Papier (Bulls)

Had a hand in a couple of the Bulls’ tries with opportunistic darts and subtle touches and scored a good one himself. Busy on defence, too, where his work included making back-to-back cover tackles on Uberti and Louis Bielle-Biarrey.

8: Cameron Hanekom (Bulls)

Showcased both his power and athleticism. Broke tackles on some occasions and stepped defenders on others. Made a pack-high 11 carries and the tackle of the game on Tambwe, plus he won a couple of breakdown penalties. Pity he missed out on an early try as he deserved one.

7: Deon Fourie (Stormers)

The ageless warrior continued to defy logic with a typically all-action, hard-nosed display that earned him the Match of the Match award. We’ve switched him to No.7 as we simply had to include both him and…

6: Marcell Coetzee (Bulls)

Pure power and passion. Brute strength to draw first blood and continued his dominance, including scoring a second even more impressive try and smashed ball carriers back.

5: Ruben van Heerden (Stormers)

Strength and stamina aplenty. Bashed over for the Stormers’ second try from close range, made a joint-match-high 13 tackles and took some athletic grabs in the lineout. 

4: Hendre Stassen (Stormers)

The epitome of a super-sub. Scored the try that got the Stormers back into the game and won it at the death with a huge breakdown penalty.

3: Neethling Fouche (Stormers)

An effective ball carrier, tied Van Heerden with 13 tackles and most importantly, put the Parisians under all sorts of pressure at scrum time with the Stormers scrummaging them off their ball twice and forcing two props to the bin.

2: Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Bulls)

Strong and prominent with ball in hand and showed off his underrated offloading ability, highlighted by his carry that set up Williams’ try. More accurate with his lineout throwing than Joseph Dweba as well.

1: Sti Sithole (Stormers)

Played his part in the utter scrum domination and got through a decent amount of work in general play.