Champions Cup Team of the Week - Round of 16

April 04, 2021
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Ultimate Rugby

A weekend of rugby that ends with no less than five Top 14 sides making their way into the Quarter Finals. One Irish side and two Premiership sides make up the remainder of the eight teams. Here is our chosen Team of the Week

1. Peni Ravai - Clermont

It's not often that a loosehead prop makes over 50 running metres in a match but that is exactly what Peni Ravai did against Wasps while the Fijian also scored a try and dominated Kieran Brookes at scrum time in just over an hour.

Toulouse's Cyrill Baille extended his good run of test form back to club rugby putting in a handy shift against Munster while Dave Kilcoyne was just as effective on Munster's loosehead side of the scrum.

Ben Harris was excellent on defence for Wasps making 21 tackles for the side that fell to Wasps while also managing to score a try for the Coventry based side. However, he had a rough time in the scrums against Cristian Ojovan before improving against Rabah Slimani.

2. Camille Chat - Racing 92

Excellent game by the French hooker who hit the ground running from the get-go as he helped Racing 92 to a big win. He beat 7 defenders on his 15 carries. Tommy Taylor had a fine outing for Wasps, just missing out, making 30 running metres and 10 tackles against Clermont with a tidy shift at the lineout too.

3. Kieran Brookes - Wasps

Solid 80 minutes outing for Brookes who was up against a rampaging opponent in Peni Ravai on the day. 7 from 8 scrums for the home side in the game

4. Jean Kleyn - Munster

Top effort in the engine room by Kleyn 13 Carries and 14 tackles in his 70 minutes on the park.

Joe Launchbury put the Clermont set-piece under tremendous pressure with the TOP 14 club failing to secure four of their lineouts. The England lock played a major role in Clermont's failures in the set-piece and was seen melting Clermont players with massive hits on defence. Launchbury didn't miss one of his 18 attempted tackles and was excellent in the defensive and attacking rucks for Wasps.

5. Jonny Hill - Exeter

Exeter were slow starters against Lyon on Saturday but once they got going, they were incredibly difficult to stop. Jonny Hill played a major role in turning things around for Exeter scoring two first-half tries. He carried strong and was everywhere for the defending champions. He hit rucks with impressive efficiency and as the game went on, Exeter's lineout improved. Named man of the match for his efforts.

6. Kevin Gourdon - La Rochelle

The former french flanker had an excellent game against Gloucester in the opening game of the weekend making over 80 running metres. He was a real threat with ball in hand completing two offloads and beating five defenders while also assisting a try.

Gavin Coombes put in a telling shift for Munster against Toulouse despite his side's defeat. With CJ Stander retiring at the end of the season, Coombes put his hand up on Saturday to replace the Irish International as he shone on either side of the ball

7. Hamish Watson - Edinburgh

Edinburgh were on the end of a thumping from Racing 92 but the Six Nations Player of the Championship put in a mammoth shift on Sunday, 20 completed tackles and 10 carries for the Scotland international

8. Jordan Joseph - Racing 92

Man of the Match outing for the two time Junior World Cup winner. Joseph was eveywhere against Edinburgh and between his hard hitting tackles and silky handling and pace out wide it isn't hard to see how he made it into the Team of the Week.

Sam Simmonds was superb once again for Exeter, with Eddie Jones in attendance. The 26-year-old made over 60 running metres, won a turnover and disrupted well. Defensively he made all of his attempted tackles.

A trademark performance from the former All Black Victor Vito who mixed his game up with flair, pace and power to guide La Rochelle to victory. He made over 50 running metres, completed two offloads, made eight passes and 11 tackles without missing.

9. Antoine Dupont - Toulouse

Antoine Dupont had another classy outing for Toulouse in their victory over Munster at Thomond Park. The French scrumhalf ran in two tries for victors. He ran what is quickly becoming, if not already, a trademark support line to score off Matthis Lebel's stellar footwork and quickly reacted to a loose ball from Delibes' offload to score another. His kicking wasn't too accurate but as per usual Dupont made up for his errors with big plays at crucial moments.

10. Romain Ntamack - Toulouse

Ntamack wasn't quite at his best for France during the Six Nations on his return from injury but he looks to be quickly getting back to top form. He ran Toulouse's attack superbly against Munster with some nice kicks as well. He scored 20 of Toulouse's 33 points, assisted a try and made over 70 running metres which earned him the man of the match award - picked by Brian O'Driscoll.

11. Keith Earls - Munster

Another rock-solid performance by the Irish outside back. He scored two tries on the night and just beats his opposite number from Toulouse into the 11 jumper this week.

Matthis Lebel narrowly misses out having scored a try and assisted another to help Toulouse secure a come from behind victory over Munster. The 22-year-old is yet to be capped at test level but if he continues his fine form he may well just be capped sometime soon. He showed off all the traits for a test winger with some sharp defence, excellent aerial skills and stellar footwork.

12. Damian de Allende - Munster

Damian de Allende was in stellar form against Toulouse despite their loss. He assisted Keith Earls' first try before making a superb break in the build-up to the second. He piled into rucks, made 13 tackles, 8 carries and over 60 running metres.

Levani Botia is unlucky to miss out, after La Rochelle's victory over Gloucester Ronan O'Gara spoke highly of Levani Botia simply saying “I don't think there's an inside centre in the world who can play the way he plays.”And ROG is not wrong. The Fijian international had an incredible game against Gloucester making over 60 running metres beating seven defenders and assisted a try while also winning two turnovers, including a crucial one in the final play of the game.

13. George Moala - Clermont

Clermont certainly had their struggles against Wasps but they were far better once they got the ball into George Moala's hand. The former All Black was solid defensively keeping fellow All Black Malakai Fekitoa and made a handy 81 running metres and assisted a try. He also managed to complete three offloads and hardly put a foot wrong all game long.

14. Paolo Odogwu - Wasps

Many fans wondering how Odogwu would perform after a long time and no game time with England, he answered those questions early on with a great performance for Wasps as they narrowly went down to Clermont. Scoring one try and narrowly missing out on another the speedster made two clean breaks, a turnover and an offload

15. Kotaro Matsushima - Clermont

It's hard to go past the Japanese international at fullback. He denied Wasps two early tries the first when Damian Penaud inexplicitly kicked the ball towards his own try line with Matsushima reacting quickest to hoof the ball out and the second when he brilliantly tackled Matteo Minozzi over the line. He was solid in all facets and beat defenders with regular ease before scoring the match-winning try to send Clermont through to the quarters.