Bulls vs Stade Francais: Cheswill Jooste hat-trick seals 56-20 Loftus win

Cheswill Jooste, the 20-year-old wing, ran in three tries for the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday 17 October 2026 as his side beat Stade Français 56-20 in their first match of the Champions Cup.

Jooste needed less than a minute to get going. Centre Harold Vorster kicked through, and the wing chased the ball down to score the opening try. He struck twice more late on, with two of his three tries arriving in the final 10 minutes.

Eight tries, eight conversions

The hosts led 21-6 at half-time and ended with eight tries. Flyhalf Handré Pollard converted every one of them. Cobus Wiese, Cameron Hanekom, Marco van Staden, Jeandré Rudolph and Jan-Hendrik Wessels scored the other five.

Two of those tries came from kicks. Hooker Wessels caught a Willie le Roux cross-kick in the in-goal area to touch down. Rudolph, on as a replacement loose forward, put the game beyond Stade Français in the 62nd minute with a solo try: he chipped over a defender and then kicked the ball on.

Jacques Botha and Petero Mailulu scored tries for the Paris club, and Ihaia West and Louis Foursans-Bourdette added the goals.

A changed Stade Français side

The visitors were short of first-choice players in Pretoria, having left 18 regulars at home in Paris. The result follows a similar pattern to the last meeting between the two clubs, also at Loftus, which the Bulls won 48-7 in the 2024/25 season.

The Bulls also handed newcomer Luan Giliomee his debut, and his first start, at fullback, as set out when the team for the match was named. The rest of the weekend's scores are on our rugby results page, and the next round is listed in the rugby fixtures.