Champions Cup Sunday's Stars

Jack Carty

The young out-half was outstanding today in Connacht’s Champions Cup clash against Zebre in Italy. He completely controlled the tempo of the entire game; knowing when to kick and when to run at the Zebre defence. He displayed maturity and great leadership with his game management and the way in which he marshalled his team mates in the back line. He pounced on a loose ball and ran 60/70 metres to touch down for a try, capping off a masterful performance.

Nemani Nadolo

The powerful Fijian was an absolute nuisance for the Leinster defence today. The combination of his blistering pace, incredible size and strength and his innovation and speed of thought caused problems throughout the game. He scored a brace of tries, one was an intercept and the other was a great break by the winger before he powered over the helpless Rob Kearney in defence. He played a key role in everything that was good about Montpellier’s attacking performance today, and he was also on hand to make several crushing tackles in defence. All in all an exceptional performance from the big man.

Jimmy Gopperth

Playing in the somewhat unfamiliar role of full back Jimmy Gopperth was the stand out performer of the game. He had a 100% success rate from the tee including two penalties and two conversions. He was threatening with the ball in hand running from deep, he caused the Toulouse defence a lot of problems and them back pedalling for large periods of the game. He was also very strong in defence making crucial tackles at vital times of the game for Wasps. The highlight of his performance was his beautiful conversion in the 79^th minute to level the scores after Nathan Hughes crashed over the line.

Dan Carter

The former All Black was on the losing side today as Racing went down 27-17 at Welford Rd to Leicester Tigers but still put in a brave individual performance. Scoring 12 of Racing's 17 points including a tasty try was enough to warrant him as the best player from the game. Carter was also unlucky late on not to score again as a possible try was ruled out by the TMO in a decision that could have gone either way. After a tough couple of weeks following steroid use allegations, Carter bounced back with a performance to show class is permanent.