Preview: La Rochelle v Toulon

Editor

Top 14 tabletoppers La Rochelle take on Toulon in the first semi-final at the Vélodrome in Marseille on Friday.

La Rochelle have been the surprise package in the competition this year and they will be hoping to take their league form into the knockout rounds of the competition.

Toulon finished the league phase of the tournament in fourth place in the standings, 16 points adrift of La Rochelle who amassed 85 points from their 26 matches played.

La Rochelle had the highest number of victories (17) in the league, the least defeats (six) and three draws while Toulon registered 14 victories from their 26 league games, with two draws and 10 defeats. 

The tabletoppers had the best defence during the regular season and were the only team to have conceded less than 500 points (498). Toulon occupy third place in that department with 511 points conceded during the season.

La Rochelle were the most disciplined this year, with fewer than 10 penalties granted on average per game (9.1) while the 2014 champions were penalised on average 10.6 times per game.

Toulon reached the semi-finals after claiming a narrow 26-22 win over Castres in their play-off last weekend with Leigh Halfpenny leading the way with a 21-point haul courtesy of a try, two conversions and four penalties.

La Rochelle last played three weeks ago when they finished their league campaign with a 30-26 loss at Clermont.

In team news, La Rochelle have made eight changes to their side that were on duty against Clermont.

In the back-line, Kimi Murimurivalu moves from inside centre to full-back where he replaces Charles Bouldoire while Paul Jordaan will wear the number 12 jersey.

In other changes amongst the backs, Brock James returns at fly-half where takes over from Benjamin Noble while Vincent Rattez is preferred to Savenaca Rawaca on the left wing.

In the forwards, Kévin Gourdon comes in on the openside flank while Levani Botia, who started in that position against Clermont, moves to the blindside where he replaces Romain Sazy.

There's one change in the second row with Leandro Cedaro taking over from Mathieu Tanguy while Jérémie Maurouard and Vincen Pelo replace Hikairo Forbes and Mike Corbel at hooker and loosehead prop respectively.

Meanwhile, Toulon have made three changes to their run-on side that beat  Castres last weekend. François Trinh-Duc, Ma'a Nonu, Bryan Habana, Laurent Delboulbes and Levan Chilachava are all sidelined due to injury.

Trinh-Duc's absence means 21-year-old Anthony Belleau will start at fly-half while James O'Connor starts at inside centre in Nonu's place. 

The final change is in the pack where Florian Fresia replaces Laurent Delboulbès at loosehead prop. Veteran playmaker Matt Giteau is a shock inclusion on the replacements bench after recovering from a serious ankle injury sustained while on duty for Australia in last year's Rugby Championship.

The teams:

La Rochelle: 15 Kimi Murimurivalu, 14 Gabriel Lacroix, 13 Pierre Aguillon, 12 Paul Jordaan, 11 Vincent Rattez, 10 Brock James, 9 Arthur Retière, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Kévin Gourdon, 6 Levani Botia, 5 Leandro Cedaro, 4 Damien Lagrange, 3 Uini Atonio (c), 2 Jérémie Maurouard, 1 Vincen Pelo 
Replacements: 16 Hikairo Forbes, 17 Mike Corbel, 18 Jone Qovu, 19 Romain Sazy, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Zack Holmes, 22 Steeve Barry, 23 Mohamed Boughanmi

Toulon: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Josua Tuisova, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 James O'Connor, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Anthony Belleau, Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 8 Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Liam Gill, 6 Juan Smith, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Juandré Kruger, 3 Marcel Van der Merwe, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Florian Fresia 
Replacements: 16 Anthony Etrillard, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Mamuka Gorgodze, 19 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 20 Jimmy Yobo, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Emerick Setiano

Date: Friday, May 26
Venue: Orange Vélodrome, Marseille
Kick-off: 21:00 local (19:00 GMT)
Referee: Pascal Gauzère
Assistant Referees: Maxime Chalon, Thomas Déjean
TMO: Philippe Bonhoure