Jooste hat-trick as Bulls crush Stade Français 56–20
The Bulls opened their Champions Cup campaign with a 56–20 win over Stade Français in Pretoria on Saturday 17 October. Cheswill Jooste scored three of the South Africans' eight tries. The big winning margin was built after the Parisians had cut the deficit to eight points in the second half.
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Archive photo: two Bulls players in Parma, on 4 November 2023. This image does not show the match of 17 October 2026. © Stefano Delfrate / Flickr — CC BY-SA 2.0. Resized and SNA logo added; adapted under the same licence.
In the 57th minute, Stade Français could still look at the scoreboard without seeing a rout. Louis Foursans-Bourdette's conversion had just cut the deficit to 28–20. The Bulls had led from the first minute, but their advantage had dwindled. Yet they went on to score the last 28 points of the match, without conceding a single one, to win 56–20 at Loftus Versfeld. The Bulls, a South African club from Pretoria, play in this predominantly European club competition.
It was in that final stretch that the South African victory took on its full scale. Jeandre Rudolph scored a try in the 62nd minute, then Jan-Hendrik Wessels in the 67th. Cheswill Jooste added two tries in the 73rd and 75th minutes. Four tries, all converted: that is how 28–20 became 56–20, without the Bulls needing to add a penalty.
Jooste opens and closes the game
The winger had already set the tone by scoring in the first minute, after a kick from Harold Vorster. He completed his hat-trick with two tries in the last ten minutes.
Between those three tries, the forwards also made their mark on the scoreboard. Cobus Wiese, Cameron Hanekom and Marco van Staden crossed the line, along with Rudolph and Wessels. That makes eight tries for the Bulls, from six different players. Jooste grabs the attention with his hat-trick, but the spread of try-scorers also tells of the contribution of the rest of the team.
Pollard misses nothing from the tee
Handré Pollard converted all eight tries, adding sixteen points with the boot. A try is worth five points, a conversion two: the forty points scored by crossing the line and the sixteen added by the fly-half make up Pretoria's 56 points.
The Bulls already led 21–6 at the break, with Stade Français having scored only two penalties, from Ihaia West and then Louis Foursans-Bourdette. Tries from Jacques Botha and Petero Mailulu for the Parisians then narrowed the gap, without allowing the visitors to get in front. Their return to within eight points would prove their last surge.
For the Bulls, this first round of Pool 4 therefore ends in victory. The score confirms their ability to pile up tries; the way the game unfolded is a reminder that they had to wait until the final part of the match to put Stade Français definitively out of reach.