The Champions and Challenge Cup pool stages reached their conclusion over the weekend, but which players earned a place in our European Club Rugby Team of the Week?
It was a weekend of big scorelines and ever bigger upsets as the likes of former champions La Rochelle and Munster found themselves knocked out of Europe’s top-tier competition, while Glasgow Warriors secured a 28-3 win against Saracens to finish the pool stage with a maximum 20-point haul.
Reigning title holders Union Bordeaux Bègles were the only other Champions Cup side to achieve 20 pool points following success in Bristol, while Montpellier Hérault Rugby were the only Challenge Cup outfit to accomplish that feat.
Bath (63-10 vs Edinburgh) and Connacht (75-14 vs US Montauban) both picked up over 50-point wins, but it was Stade Toulousain who dished out the biggest hammering, storming past Sale Sharks 77-7 and earning their biggest win on the European stage since the turn of the century. Their superiority is reflected in our XV, as the only side with three representatives:
Opta’s Star Player of the Week
As electric as Toulouse’s entire backline was, it’s Matthis Lebel who earns the nod as our Player of the Week. Two tries and a hat-tricks of assists puts Lebel on an eclectic list of players to have registered five or more try involvements in a Champions Cup game since Opta have recorded this data, alongside Antoine Dupont (x2), Damian Penaud (x2), Alex Dombrandt, Billy Searle and James Lowe.
His 165 metres gained were the most of any player at the weekend, comfortably clear of Dupont and Louis Rees-Zammit in second place (136m each). In fact, it was the first time a player has gained 150+ metres in the Champions Cup this season, with his five line breaks also representing a joint-seasonal high (also Ange Capuozzo vs Sharks in Round 1).
Having featured for France just once since the end of 2022, Lebel will be hoping he’s done enough to get a call from Fabien Galthié ahead of this year’s Six Nations.
The Best of the Rest
Lebel may have had a hand in five of Toulouse’s tries, but Thomas Ramos duly converted all 11. It was the most conversions scored by a single player in a Champions Cup match since Opta have analysed the competition, overtaking the record of 10 set by Ramos himself in his final pool fixture last season (against Leicester Tigers).
Ramos crossed the whitewash himself, taking his individual tally to 27 points, the most by anyone in the competition this season, and Ramos’ second biggest haul, having only scored more against the Sharks’ Durban-based namesakes (29 in April 2023).
No discussion of Toulouse heroics would be complete without mentioning Antoine Dupont, though, whose performances in recent weeks have showed no signs of a dip in form after his lengthy injury lay-off. Dupont gained 136 metres from his 14 carries, his second highest Champions Cup tally (155m vs Cardiff Rugby in December 2021). It was the ninth time this decade that he’s made 100+ metres in the competition, the most of any player, and over twice as often as every other scrum-half combined since the start of 2020.
136 – Antoine Dupont gained 136 metres v Sale Sharks, the 9th time since 2020 that he's made 100+ in a @ChampionsCup match, more often than any other player; in fact, it's over twice as often as every other scrum half combined (Le Garrec 2, Lucu & Cordero 1). Generational. pic.twitter.com/Wfv7xaJEaR
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) January 19, 2026Elsewhere in France, Leinster may have triumphed over Bayonne, but Alexandre Fischer was a constant thorn in the Irish province’s side, finishing the match with 25 tackles completed and three turnovers won. It was just the second time a player has made 20+ tackles and won 3+ turnovers in the Champions Cup this season, alongside Toulouse’s Jack Willis (vs Glasgow Warriors in Round 2).
Moving forward in the pack, Hugo Auradou is becoming somewhat of a regular in our weekly lineup, and he was at his industrious best again as Section Paloise fell agonizingly short against the Bulls. Auradou hit the most rucks of any player across the Champions/Challenge Cups at the weekend (44) and claimed eight lineout takes as part of a Pau pack that retained possession from all 17 of their throws.
Also impressive in defeat was Ospreys hooker Lewis Lloyd who grabbed himself a brace, with both efforts coming directly from lineouts. His overall work at that particular set-piece was impressive with Montpellier managing to claim possession from just one of Lloyd’s 16 throws.
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European Rugby Team of the Week: Unparalleled Lebel Steers Toulouse Past Sale Opta Analyst.
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