Sharks' Champions Cup dreams obliterated by Bordeaux after Penaud double hat-trick

The Sharks were thrashed at Stade Chaban-Delmas on Sunday as their Champions Cup hopes this season were obliterated.

Outplayed in every department by a slick Bordeaux outfit, the visitors – South Africa’s last hope at a Champions Cup knockout spot this season – went down 66-12.

French wing Damian Penaud, remarkably, scored six tries.

Going into the match in fourth place in Pool 1 (the top four qualify for the knockouts), the Sharks had a superior points difference of 28 over Ulster in fifth.

If they were going to lose, that was the margin they needed to avoid. But it was not to be and, in the end, it wasn’t even close.

The Sharks and Bulls will now slip down from the Champions Cup and into the Challenge Cup for the remainder of the season while the Stormers are eliminated entirely. 

The Sharks had a dream start, rocking the hosts with two tries inside the opening 10 minutes – through Siya Masuku and Hakeem Kunene – that went a long way towards settling any nerves that would have surrounded their Champions Cup fate.

But there was no time to get comfortable, and when Bordeaux hit back with a well-worked score through Damian Penaud, things got real very quickly for the Durbanites.

In the build-up to the try, Kunene went flying into Arthur Retiere with a high hit and was extremely lucky to only receive a yellow card.

In a flash, the scores were level once more. This time, it came after a frantic period of play that saw both sides threaten with counter-attacks before Yaw Penxe inadvertently passed straight to Penaud, who ran in unchallenged for his second.

It meant there were four tries in the opening quarter of the match and the scores were level at 12-12.

Then, things tightened up, and while the Sharks did have a couple of