Champions Cup round-up: French leaders flex muscles as Bordeaux, Toulouse shine on road

Exeter's miserable season continued as they were left on the verge of elimination after suffering a record Champions Cup defeat as Bordeaux-Begles destroyed them 69-17 at Sandy Park

SANDY WORK: Bordeaux Begles players celebrate following the Investec Champions Cup match at Sandy Park, Exeter. Pic: Steven Paston/PA Wire.

The Top 14 frontrunners took domestic form back to Champions Cup duty as Bordeaux-Begles and Toulouse took complete command of Pool 1 with impressive road victories.

Exeter's miserable season continued as they were left on the verge of elimination after suffering a record Investec Champions Cup defeat as Bordeaux-Begles destroyed them 69-17 at Sandy Park.

Chiefs need a landslide bonus-point win in their final pool fixture against Ulster to have any chance of reaching the last-16, but an early exit still beckons because of their poor points difference.

A month after they shipped 64 points on home soil at the hands of tournament favourites Toulouse, the Chiefs were handed another lesson. It was Exeter's 12th defeat from 13 Premiership and Champions Cup starts this term, and the most points they have conceded at home since gaining top-flight status in 2010.

French Top 14 leaders Bordeaux cut loose during a dominant first half that saw captain Maxime Lucu claim a try double, while wing Damian Penaud, replacement Louis Bielle-Biarrey and hooker Maxime Lamothe also touched down.

Fly-half Matthieu Jalibert kicked three conversions, and Exeter could only muster a breakaway Paul Bampoe-Brown try in response.

The second period was similarly one-way traffic, with Penaud and Bielle-Biarrey each adding their second tries, before Penaud completed a hat-trick, while Jalibert, Cyril Cazeaux and Yann Lesgourgues also crossed. Jalibert finished with seven conversions for a 19-point haul.

Exeter, meanwhile, managed two tries for Brown-Bampoe and one by Ben Hammersley, plus a Henry Slade conversion.

Meanwhile in Durban, Emmanuel Meafou and Blair Kinghorn both scored tries which helped Toulouse maintain an unbeaten start in Pool 1 with a 20-8 victory over Sharks. Jurenzo Julius response was about all the Shark could muster as the absence of a core of Springboks, including Eben Etzebeth, told.

Thomas Ramos kicked two penalties for the visitors with Jaden Hendrikse replying with one for the Sharks. Toulouse's inability to force home their superiority with a bonus points leaves them one point behind their domestic rivals.

Elsewhere in the early window the Stormers easily overpowered Sale Sharks with Manie Libbock on song. The 40-0 whitewash in Cape Town leaves the English side facing an uphill battle to progress out of Pool 3. 

Wires