A thrilling final pool round of the Investec Champions Cup saw records tumble and now that the dust has settled on the action we’ve picked our Team of the Week.

Damian Penaud destroyed the Sharks with a brilliant double hat-trick for Bordeaux, whilst Toulouse eviscerated Leicester, scoring 80 points in one of the great performances.

Without further ado, here’s our line-up for round four.

Champions Cup Team of the Week

15 Thomas Ramos (Toulouse): Who else? Absolutely magnificent as he notched 20 points in conversions alone, as well as crossing for a try. Hugo Keenan was outstanding for Leinster as they disposed of Bath convincingly in Dublin and Rhyno Smith was a key man in Benetton’s important win.

14 Damian Penuad (Bordeaux-Begles): In every other round, we would be eulogising about Ange Capuozzo and his sidestepping brilliance as he grabbed two for Toulouse and made another. But when one man grabs six tries, you can’t ignore him – and that’s precisely what Penaud did as he ran riot in Bordeaux. Tom Roebuck delivered a statement performance in a scrappy game at Sale, doing his Test chances no harm at all while Vinaya Habosi impressed with a brace for Racing 92.

13 Adrien Seguret (Castres): The French theme continues as the Castres skipper led his team by example grabbing a brace of tries himself as Castres delivered one of the performances of the season winning on the road at Saracens. In any other weekend, Leinster’s Robbie Henshaw would be a shoo-in but the Castres victory needed representation in out Team of the Week. A mention for Nacho Brex, who led his team into the Round of 16 as Benetton overturned La Rochelle.

12 Jordie Barrett (Leinster): Massive once again as his power drove Leinster to an outstanding second-half performance against Bath. Yoram Moefana grabbed a score in UBB’s rout of the Sharks and Pierre-Louis Barissi ran the midfield brilliantly for Toulouse.

11 Cadan Murley (Harlequins): The England flyer sharpened his stuff at precisely the right time with the Six Nations looming. His two tries and all round aerial game were at the heart of the Quins win. Blair Kinghorn had a classy outing for Toulouse, whilst Racing‘s Max Spring popped up on the wing to grab two as they beat the Stormers.

10 Matthieu Jalibert (Bordeaux-Begles): We know how the French selectors feel when they have to choose between the Bordeaux 10 and Toulouse’s Romain Ntamack – it’s almost impossible when both are playing as well as they are. Shout outs for Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley, who both made their case for the Ireland 10 shirt, whilst Fin Smith shone once again for Saints and Louis Le Brun was solid for Castres.

9 Antoine Dupont (Toulouse): A masterclass from the master. It is that simple. Maxime Lucu strutted his stuff for Bordeaux, Raffi Quirke was one of Sale’s better performers and Jamison Gibson-Park was outstanding for Leinster. But they pale into insignificance compared to Dupont’s orchestration of the taming of the Tigers.

The forwards

8 Lorenzo Cannone (Benetton): We had to reward the Italian outfit for a wonderful campaign and Cannone fired some big shots, crossing for a try and eclipsing one of the best, Gregory Alldritt, as his team overcame La Rochelle. Caelan Doris‘ impact for Leinster was crucial, whilst against him, Alfie Barbeary had an impressive outing.

7 Jack Willis (Toulouse): Four turnovers, try assists and the complete ownership of the breakdown add up to a brilliant weekend for Willis. Nick Timoney is unlucky not to be in the Ireland squad as he delivered a classy display for Ulster, whilst Ben Curry‘s soccer s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s are said to be attracting a big offer from Pep Guardiola according to Sale’s director of rugby Alex Sanderson.

6 Francois Cros (Toulouse): Cros and Willis have become the most lethal flank partnership in European rugby. Four of the Toulouse tries came directly from the French international’s interventions as he had a memorable match, showing the other side of his game as he made 89m in carry. Chandler Cunningham-South showed he’s returning to form as he smashed his way to victory in Quins’ win against Glasgow.

5 RG Snyman (Leinster): The definition of impact as he led Leinster’s very own bomb squad, grabbing a couple of tries in a brilliant second-half performance. Cormac Izuchukwu grabbed a hat-trick for Ulster in their decimation of Exeter, whilst Emmanuel Meafou had a thundering game for Toulouse in their rout.

4 Thibaud Flament (Toulouse): There’s a growing school of thought that if Eben Etzebeth is the best lock in the world, Flament is the man that would partner him if the World XV played Mars next week. A brilliantly athletic performance, although Peceli Yato pushed him close with a Player of the Match performance for Clermont.

3 Rabah Slimani (Leinster): What a clever signing by Leinster. The French tighthead is crushing any loosehead that comes his way and absolutely crushed the Bath scrum in a brilliant display of the propping arts. Sale’s Asher Opoku-Fordjour was in barrelling form in carry and the tight, as he joins the England squad in Girona this week.

2 Julien Marchand (Toulouse): The French club have arguably the two best hookers in the world and both shone at Stade Ernest-Wallon, with Marchand grabbing two tries. Curtis Langdon impressed for Northampton Saints, whilst Luke Cowan-Dickie demonstrated his form and fitness for Sale Sharks and Theo Dan was busy for Saracens.

1 Bevan Rodd (Sale Sharks): If Rodd can take his Sale scrummaging form into the Test arena, his loose game is so rounded that he may very well push Ellis Genge for his place. Andrew Porter was part of the Leinster scrum demolition of Bath and Thomas Gallo was absolutely outstanding in the loose for Benetton.