Damian Penaud shines as Bordeaux-Begles ease past under-strength Bristol Bears

Adam Kyriacou
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Bordeaux-Begles wing Damian Penaud chipping.

Bordeaux-Begles wing Damian Penaud chipping.

France star Damian Penaud showed his class as Bordeaux-Begles proved too strong for an under-strength Bristol Bears side in a 36-17 Champions Cup win on Saturday.

It was one-way traffic at Stade Chaban-Delmas as the quality in the French team shone through, with dazzling wing Penaud leading the charge with his customary swagger.

He scored Bordeaux’s third try of the first half which came after France team-mates Maxime Lucu and Louis Bielle-Biarrey had also crossed in a dominant 40 minutes.

Click here for scorers

Bristol Bears, who came into the game on the back of a dramatic 36-34 win over Lyon, named a much-changed line-up and the gulf in quality was evident throughout.

Les Bleus star Penaud was heavily involved in setting up the game’s first try for Lucu as his break over halfway led to lock Guido Petti laying on to his scrum-half to score.

Bielle-Biarrey would get Bordeaux’s second try wide on the left on 17 minutes before Penaud provided a cool finish on 32 minutes to make it 22-3 at the turnaround.

The second period saw more of the same, and Ben Tapuai’s try on 55 minutes, which saw him slip through the Bristol defence, compounded the Bears’ woes in Bordeaux.

A score from replacement James Dun via the driving maul gave Bristol something to cheer about. However, it was short-lived when Théo Nanette responded soon after.

Bristol, to their credit, kept on fighting until the end and had the final say in the match thanks to a try from another substitute, Oscar Lennon, but it was very much in vain.

The teams

Bordeaux: 15 Romain Buros, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Yoram Moefana, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Matthieu Jalibert, 9 Maxime Lucu, 8 Pete Samu, 7 Mahamadou Diaby, 6 Bastien Vergnes, 5 Thomas Jolmes, 4 Guido Petti, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 1 Jefferson Poirot
Replacements: 16 Clément Maynadier, 17 Ugo Boniface, 18 Sipili Falatea, 19 Kane Douglas, 20 Marko Gazzotti, 21 Antoine Miquel, 22 Théo Nanette, 23 Pablo Uberti

Bristol: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Piers O’Conor, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Sam Worsley, 9 Sam Wolstenholme, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Jake Heenan (c), 6 Joe Owen, 5 Josh Caulfield, 4 Ed Holmes, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Max Lahiff
Replacements: 16 Will Capon, 17 Sam Grahamslaw, 18 Steven Longwell, 19 James Dun, 20 Paddy Pearce, 21 Oscar Lennon, 22 Joe Jenkins, 22 Jack Bates

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Peter Martin (Ireland), Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)

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Bristol Damian Penaud