Damien Penaud is one of many French talents currently occupying the rugby world who might be described as world-class, so when he does something particularly dazzling it’s often overlooked as simply part and parcel of being Damian Penaud. But sometimes, the great French wideman likes to remind us just how special he is.
In Bordeaux’s devastating victory over Exeter at the weekend, Penaud’s excellence was on full display as he scored a hattrick of tries against the disparaged English side. The 28-year-old toyed with the home players’ hearts, minds and ankles all afternoon, but no more so when he initially declined to score his third try, electing instead to put teammate Matthieu Jalibert under the posts.
Penaud, for all the money in the world, looked like he was about to touch down in the corner for his hat trick after gassing past the flailing Exeter defence. But with no one in front of him, the speedster audaciously threw a 20-metre pass inside to his fly-half who then stepped another Chiefs player to extend the lead.
Bordeaux doing Bordeaux things.
Penaud and Jalibert. pic.twitter.com/tqz0dLmYj7
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) January 12, 2025
If this was a closer match there’s no doubt that the 53-cap Frenchman would have taken the opportunity himself, but against a struggling Chiefs side, the opportunity was there. The talented winger added his third just over ten minutes later as the visitors continued to distress the Sandy Park crowd.
Damian Penaud hat-trick! 👏
The Bordeaux Bègles player scores his third try in what has been a stunning display 🌟#InvestecChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/KvrgWKXgaA
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) January 11, 2025
The match finished 17-69 as Bordeaux continued their impressive European form and Exeter failed to secure yet another result.
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Following the match Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told the BBC:
“We had our moments and we had enthusiasm in attack and we’ve created some good scores, but can we really say we had a system or a process that looked like it was really challenging Bordeaux on a regular basis?
“I’ve probably got to say no, and we’ve got to get through this. We’ve got to train our way through it, and we’ve got to take a lot of responsibility because we’ve got to get the guys believing in it and doing it regularly and trusting it and trusting each other.”
In this episode of Walk the Talk, Jim Hamilton chats with double World Cup winner Damian de Allende about all things Springbok rugby, including RWC2023 and the upcoming Ireland series. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV
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