Hastoy is leading Champions Cup scorer
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Stade Rochelais fly-half Antoine Hastoy, who helped the French club retain the Heineken Champions Cup at the weekend with the match-winning conversion, also topped the competition’s individual points chart.
He finished five clear of opposing No.10, Leinster Rugby’s Ross Byrne, while both were comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. We list the top five and their achievements this season below.
1 Antoine Hastoy (Stade Rochelais) 97
The 25-year-old has enjoyed a superb campaign, with his reliable goalkicking a feature of La Rochelle’s thrilling title defence as he has landed 25 conversions and 14 penalties in his eight appearances.
The former Section Paloise fly-half also scored a try in La Rochelle’s 36-29 Round 2 win at Ulster Rugby, where he amassed a season-high 26 points in what has been his best-ever EPCR season.
2 Ross Byrne (Leinster Rugby) 92
With the experienced Johnny Sexton hit by injury, the 28-year-old has proved a more than capable deputy, kicking 31 conversions and 10 penalties as Leinster stormed into their second successive Heineken Champions Cup final.
The Irish international also appeared in eight games, although he didn’t rack up as many minutes as Hastoy, so to finish only five points adrift of the Frenchman was a notable achievement.
3 Thomas Ramos (Stade Toulousain) 70
The France full-back had a higher points average than the top two with 14 per game, largely due to the 29 he accumulated in Toulouse’s 54-20 home tout of Cell C Sharks in the quarter-finals.
The 27-year-old playmaker, who made five Heineken Champions Cup appearances this season, underlined what a versatile player he is with two tries, 15 conversions and 10 penalties as Toulouse reached the last four.
4 Curwin Bosch (Cell C Sharks) 65
Bosch also appeared only five times in his maiden Heineken Champions Cup campaign, but the South African made an instant impact with a try, 18 conversions, seven penalties and a drop-goal.
The 25-year-old’s standout performance was in the 50-35 home drubbing of Munster Rugby in the Round of 16, when he notched 22 points.
5 Joe Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs) 55
Simmonds marked his final season for Exeter before moving to France by again topping their points chart, kicking 23 conversions and three penalties in his seven appearances as the English club made the semi-finals.
The 26-year-old fly-half was a particularly key contributor in the Chiefs’ Round 2 and quarter-final victories over Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers with 14 and 12 points respectively.
