Champions Cup Team of the Season: ‘Precious talent’ sends Test message in road to glory while Henry Pollock rewarded for breakthrough season
From left to right: Damian Penaud, Matthieu Jalibert and Henry Pollock
As Cardiff saw Bordeaux-Begles crowned European champions for their first major piece of silverware, it’s time for our Investec Champions Cup Team of the Season.
We’ve selected from across the rounds, taking into account personal performance and result outcomes, and we trust you’ll enjoy our selections.
Planet Rugby’s Champions Cup Team of the Season
15 Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints): Freeman spent his time moving across the backline, playing at both 13 and 15 at various times in the final. However, with second place in the try and carry list (nine and 24 respectively) and top of the metres made (755), he’s a shoo-in for our team. Our runner-up is the always brilliant Thomas Ramos, whose absence for Toulouse in the semi-final against UBB might just have been the difference in terms of the result.
14 Damian Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles): Penaud was the official EPCR Player of the Season, beating more defenders (31) and making more clean breaks (24) than anyone else, and topping the try count with a whopping 14. Our runner-up is Toulouse flyer Ange Capuozzo, a man who didn’t feature as much as he would have liked but who ignited every match he played in, with an honourable mention for Saints’ James Ramm, who ran 511 metres in his excellent campaign.
13 Pierre-Louis Barassi (Toulouse): Barassi made more clean breaks (13) than any other centre and was second only to Yoram Moefana, our runner-up, in terms of tackles made. Moefana moves across the backline between 12 and 13 with ease and has become a glue player for club and country, and he led the three-quarter defensive effort, with a season topping 89 tackles.
12 Jordie Barrett (Leinster): A standout in another frustrating season for Leinster, Barrett made more carries than any other player, reaching 103 across the tournament and was very much the fulcrum of the Leinster backline. Saints’ Fraser Dingwall has moved on leaps and bounds, just missing out this time due to the brilliance of Barrett’s season. An honourable mention to Nacho Brex, the heartbeat of Benetton’s effort, who surely will thrive in Toulon’s colours next season.
Northampton lodge complaint over Henry Pollock treatment as Saints allege Bordeaux ‘foul play’
11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux-Begles): Impossible to leave the Six Nations superstar out. He might have let his mate Penaud take the limelight in terms of try scoring, but when it mattered, in the Toulouse semi-final, he was electric. Kyle Rowe from Glasgow Warriors needs a shout-out for a brilliant season that saw him in the top five for clean breaks.
10 Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Begles): When Fabien Galthie finally captures this precocious talent and gets him mentally strong at Test level, then the rest of the world better watch out. Jalibert might have his critics, but his performances in the knockout stages, and especially the semi and the final, were match-winning. There’s little doubt he’s now the finest attacking 10 in the world, despite concerns about his frailties under pressure. Penaud might be the EPCR Player of the Season, but our accolade goes to the UBB fly-half – masterful, thrilling, abrasive. Fin Smith is our runner-up for a great season for Saints.
9 Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Begles): Maxi has had a renaissance this season. It really was a toss-up between Lucu and Alex Mitchell, but given the relative performances in the final, we have to go with France’s very own Jason Statham lookalike, but both nines are world-class exponents of their art.
8 Pete Samu (Bordeaux-Begles): One of the hardest calls we had to make. On stats, this place should go to Juarno Augustus, who was immense so many times for Saints, but we cannot overlook the performance of Samu in the semi-final and the final itself, so he takes the place by a whisker.
7 Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints): Top try scorer as a forward (seven), most tackles made (106) and most turnovers won (20). What a season. Let’s look forward to his rematch with Jalibert! Until then, you can enjoy the pair making memes at each other on Instagram. Our runner-up is Jack Willis, Toulouse’s brilliant flanker, who shone yet again for Toulouse.
6 Guido Petti (Bordeaux-Begles): Towering performances in the knockout stages and a lineout king for UBB. His breakdown performance against Toulouse was sumptuous. Our runner-up is Toulouse’s great flank Francois Cros, the man who’s taken the shirt in our Team of the Season for the past three years.
Bordeaux-Begles end wait for Champions Cup glory with vintage win over Northampton Saints
5 Alex Coles (Northampton Saints): Coles has moved from fringe Test player to a shoo-in for Steve Borthwick’s touring team to the Americas. The big man was magnificent all season, so much so that he beat our runner-up, Cyril Cazeaux, to the starting place. Manny Meafou needs a mention too, massive for Stade Toulousain all season.
4 David Ribbans (Toulon): Quite why ‘Big Ribeye’ isn’t on the plane to Australia with the Lions is an absolute mystery. Worth his place for his one-handed take against Toulouse alone! Our runner-up is Toulouse’s brilliant Thibaud Flament, a man who drained everything in an incredible performance against UBB in the semi-final.
3 Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors): You might raise your eyebrows at this, but Fagerson won more scrum penalties than any other tighthead and he conceded the fewest, as ‘Weegies’ recorded a 100% scrum success over the season. Our runner-up, for sheer impact, is UBB’s Ben Tameifuna, who rumbled on and grabbed tries or made carries when it really mattered.
2 Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints): A huge achievement for the Saintsman, considering the claims of Dan Sheehan of Leinster and Maxime Lamothe of UBB. But the raw stats tell all; Langdon made 88 tackles (fifth) six turnovers (eighth) and 79 carries (seventh) in a memorable season for the superb Saints hooker.
1 Jefferson Poirot (Bordeaux-Begles): Big Jeff is the cultural heartbeat of UBB; a veteran of club and Test rugby, he keeps putting in massive performances for his club. Lethal over the ball, he finished sixth in the jackal list, grabbing seven in a memorable season. Our runner-up is Leinster’s Andrew Porter, a man who has one of the biggest engines in the game and never lets his side down.