Following a 56-20 victory for the Bulls over Stade Francais on Saturday, here’s our five takeaways from the Investec Champions Cup fixture.
The top line
The Bulls got their Champions Cup campaign off to a perfect start as they claimed a maximum against their Parisian visitors in hot conditions.
Cheswill Jooste’s impressive hat-trick was complemented by tries from Cobus Wiese, Cameron Hanekom, Marco van Staden, Jeandre Rudolph and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, with Handre Pollard converting every one of those eight crossings in a faultless performance off the kicking tee.
Jacques Botha and Petero Mailulu claimed Stade’s tries with Ihaia West and Louis Foursans-Bourdette goaling a combined total of 10 points.
Grease lightning
There’s no substitute for pace and in Jooste the Bulls have out and out gas on their midst, with the 20-year-old wing putting on a show today.
Barely half a minute was on the clock when the youngster put his foot to the floor, racing to collect a nice Harold Vorster kick before crossing.
Unsurprisingly, there were more examples of him wreaking havoc for Stade’s defence and he was unlucky to be denied a second crossing on 15 minutes. That came in the 73rd minute when he enjoyed a walk-in before his rapid pace was on show again as he completed his hat-trick in style.
South Africa has a hot prospect on their hands, and with Sebastian de Klerk also electric, the Bulls boast two wingers with no shortage of pace.
Stade encouragement
The visitors were major underdogs to claim victory today after sending a much-changed XV to South Africa for this opening European game.
But, to their credit, they were in the running for a large portion of the match before the Bulls’ superior quality showed during the dying embers.
Paul Gustard will take some positives from this effort on the road for sure as they now turn the focus back to Top 14 matters and Castres away.
Rich vein of form
He scored an amazing try last Saturday against the Lions and one felt it was inevitable the Springbok Hanekom would cross again this week.
His try came three minutes before the break and showed yet again what a handful he is with ball in hand as he crashed over for a key score.
Rassie Erasmus is a fan of the Bulls number eight, but with Jasper Wiese, 30, a favourite in terms of his gun team, Hanekom has to wait for that shirt. What a luxury for the Springboks head coach to have as Hanekom is a special talent who is in a rich vein of form for his club outfit.
Rudolph magic
A surname associated with the fictional character of Christmas time in freezing weather, Rudolph was a long way from home in 30 degrees today. However, there was still magic in the air at a sweltering Loftus Versfeld as the number eight crossed for the try of his career on 62 minutes.
Standing on the right wing inside his own half, Rudolph received the ball on the front foot and then decided to chip over the top of the advancing defender. He would then hack the ball onwards, it bouncing over wing Aisake Manna, before a foot race saw the back-row gather to score.
One could see by his face it was a special moment in his career, and it’s not hard to see why. As the commentator said, “hang it in the Louvre”.
READ MORE: Bulls v Stade Francais: Result, scorers, match stats, line-ups