It's difficult to find the words to describe Damian Penaud's performance. The Union Bordeaux-Bègles winger scored six tries against the Sharks during UBB's very, very big victory against the South Africans (66-12). A sextuplet which makes the French international the new competition record holder.
You are not dreaming, Damian Penaud scored a sextuplet against the Sharks! This is the first time that a player has scored six tries in a Champions Cup match. As a result, the French international from UBB makes history. Even more remarkable, the twirling wing three-quarter scored nine tries in two games, following his hat-trick the previous weekend against Exeter.
The Penaud festival began at the start of the meeting. After a failed start to the match, Yannick Bru's players were trailing 12 to 0. Moment chosen by the French international to strike twice in five minutes: first by being efficient and sharp at the end of the line, then by showing himself very opportunistic on an interception close to 22 meters from the Durban Sharks. Just before the break, the former Clermontois allowed UBB to go ahead by breaking a tackle before flattening. Thanks to its diamond, the Union took the lead again, and did the hard part.
This never happened to me when I was young
Even more liberated in the second act, like his team, Penaud delighted Chaban-Delmas in the last quarter of an hour, and the rain of tries never stopped. Four minutes from time, the winger scored his sixth personal try of the day. At the final whistle at the BeIN Sport microphone, he looked back on his incredible performance: “Scoring six tries? That had never happened to me, even among the young players. It's remarkable, but above all it's all the work of the team. I'm in the right place at the right time. In our team, we likes to play ball, and the European Cup is made for that. We wanted to do well. We got off to a bad start, but we were able to resolve that.
-In the history of the competition, Penaud now holds the record for tries scored in a single match. No one had managed to score six tries in a single match. Before the Frenchman, the record belonged to Tom Beim with Gloucester against Roma during the 2000-2001 season, and to Matt Cardey with Llanelli against Calvisano the following season (2001-2002). You will have understood, it is also the first time that a Frenchman has scored so much in 80 minutes in the Champions Cup. A performance which very logically allowed him to win the man of the match trophy, and history rating 10/10 on Rugbyrama.
