The gulf between the top French sides and the Premiership’s lower reaches grows wider by the week. First Toulouse and now Bordeaux have travelled to Exeter this season and been so markedly superior that a boxing referee would have stopped the fight long before the end. This was not even the visitors’ strongest team and it still resulted in a record drubbing.
There was never much chance of this rebuilding Chiefs squad punching above its weight in this season’s Champions Cup anyway but they finished an embarrassingly distant second against opponents who exuded attacking class all day and could go deep in the competition if their key men stay fit and the Six Nations does not stall their momentum.
Maxime Lucu cannot even make France’s best XV when the peerless Antoine Dupont is around but the scrum-half was outstanding here, scoring two tries himself and astutely pulling all the right levers to punish Exeter’s assorted shortcomings. The Chiefs, who missed 47 tackles, were good enough to see off Gloucester in their most recent home outing but these opponents were several cuts above.
It does not necessarily follow that France will be similarly dominant in the Six Nations but there can be no disputing the pedigree of players such as Damian Penaud – who helped himself to a hat-trick of tries – Matthieu Jalibert and Louis Bielle-Biarrey when they have plentiful turnover ball to feast on. At some stage, even so, English rugby has to accept the glaringly obvious: cash-strapped Premiership sides are increasingly no match for the Top 14’s biggest beasts.
Rob Baxter, Exeter’s director of rugby, acknowledged it had been “a bit of a stuffing” and, having said a shoulder operation for the England wing Manny Feyi-Waboso “was still the most likely outcome” next week, conceded the mood was “not great” in the home dressing room. “No-one likes to have a load of points stuffed up your shirt. I’d like to hope it will be a good learning experience for some players down the line but it’s taught us we have to work extremely hard on our foundations and our belief in the things we’re doing. They were scoring without having to go through a phase at times. We have to do better than that.”
Exeter’s meagre highlights reel pretty much started and finished with Paul Brown-Bampoe’s spectacular seventh-minute try from almost 95 metres out. The winger, last seen turning out for Plymouth Albion against Dings Crusaders before Christmas, owed his selection to a serious knee injury to Olly Woodburn and Josh Hodge’s broken hand but there was no disputing the pace and quality of his dramatic sprint up the full length of the touchline in front of the main stand.
It was a momentary flicker of Chiefs quality with slack tackling giving Bordeaux the chance to display their own finishing ability. Lucu scored the first and was heavily involved in the second, looping around Jalibert and feeding Romain Buros who put a strolling Penaud over with 14 minutes gone.
Despite the premature loss of the dangerous Buros with an ankle strain there was plenty more casual backline brilliance to come. On the half hour they swept right again with the elusive Penaud this time turning provider to give the supporting Lucu a straightforward jog to the line.
With the brilliant young Bielle-Biarrey appearing off the bench to inflict further languid damage, Bordeaux can be every bit as dangerous as Toulouse with ball in hand and the ease with which the visitors added a fifth try seconds before half-time did not bode at all well.
Josh Bassett scored a hat-trick as Leicester fought back to earn a 38-10 Pool 1 victory over Ulster at Welford Road and secure their place in the last 16.
Nick Timoney got the visitors off to a flying start with an early try, but Bassett crossed after 17, 41 and 60 minutes at Welford Road. Ollie Hassell-Collins also helped himself to a double and Izaia Perese added a sixth try as the home side hit back in devastating fashion.
Sale's hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions Cup suffered a major blow after they were thrashed 40-0 by Stormers in Cape Town. South Africa fly-half Manie Libbok scored 13 points as the hosts roared to a bonus-point win to replace their opponents in the final qualifying spot in Pool 1.
The visitors coped well enough in the opening quarter but JD Schickerling opened the scoring before Libbok burst clear to extend the home side's lead. Sale were guilty of missed chances as Stormers pushed further in front with tries from Sti Sithole and Warrick Gelant to secure the potentially crucial bonus point.
Paul de Wet scored the home side's fifth try and Andre-Hugo Venter wrapped up a shutout victory, leaving Sale with all to play for in their final home game against Toulon, who maintained their unbeaten record with a 20-8 win over Sharks.
Munster revived their qualification hopes and climbed above Saracens in Pool 3 with a 17-12 win over the three-times European champions at Thomond Park. The visitors led 9-3 courtesy of two Alex Lozowski penalties and a third from Elliot Daly after Jack Crowley had replied.
Dian Bleuler's 59th-minute try dragged the hosts back to within a point and Crowley's conversion put them ahead. It was John Hodnett's touchdown, with Crowley again adding the two points, which gave them breathing space despite Lozowski's third successful penalty attempt of the game. PA Media
It was merely the prelude to further heavy punishment. Jalibert created a slick score for Bielle-Biarrey and Penaud would have claimed a sumptuous hat-trick even earlier had he not thrown the ball away with no defender in sight and invited the fleet-footed Jalibert to touch down instead. Exeter were being toyed with, never a happy experience for a home side or their supporters.
With fatigue also kicking in, the only remaining question was whether Bordeaux could outdo Toulouse’s 64-21 victory in Devon last month even after a red card for replacement the prop Toma Taufa for a high challenge on Ben Hammersley. A second try for the energetic Brown-Bampoe and one for Hammersley could not avert that final indignity and with 172 points conceded in three pool games, this continues to be a bleak winter for the entire Chiefs hierarchy.
