Champions Cup: La Rochelle grapple with ghosts of Finals past

Lawrence Nolan

Two finals, two defeats, read La Rochelle’s season report for 2021/22, something that’s in the minds of the coaching staff ahead of Saturday’s Champions Cup Final.

It was an eerie occasion last time out, with only 10,000 fans allowed to watch the all-French final at Twickenham, and while the Maritimes fought their way gamely back in the final quarter, Toulouse had done just too much early on. The Top 14 Final, a couple of weeks later and also against Toulouse, was almost an exact repeat.

Not this time

This one will not be. Not only is it not against Toulouse, it is also in France and likely to be in front of 60,000 passionate fans. Leinster will bring plenty of travellers over with them, but the crowd is set to be a little more on the La Rochelle side than either final was last year.

And as the coaching staff has pointed out this week, they will not only be wiser in terms of strategy, but also wiser in terms of what the team can and cannot do under the unique pressure the match will bring. The players, too, are relishing an opportunity to show they can deal with it.

“Last year was our first final, we were a little nervous,” said fly-half Ihaia West, who had a miserable time kicking for goal in both finals last season, to Midi-Olympique.

“We weren’t good under pressure, especially me. Both times, the team did not show what it can do.”

Back-row Wiaan Liebenberg agrees, pointing out that this time the team is a lot more aware of both its underdog status and feeling the build-up much less.

“This year, we know what awaits us. We are more comfortable, more relieved. We feel privileged to be in this situation,” he said.

“I had the impression that it was a normal Monday. Sometimes, when you play a final, you tell yourself that you have to do more than usual when you don’t have to.

“If we were the favourites, it would add pressure. This is clearly not the case. Leinster are confident and right to be. Everything is fine for them. I prefer this position of outsider.

“It is often in these conditions that we perform best, when people do not believe too much in us. We have the weapons to beat this team, we have to focus on ourselves.”

West also noted that his coach, former Ireland fly-half Ronan O’Gara, is also along for the ride once again, saying that having the coaching staff also aware of last year’s mistakes gives him “a lot of confidence.”

For his part, O’Gara, who has had a bit of a turbulent season, was unequivocal: there is a plan, and it will be executed.

“We are much further ahead mentally thanks to last year’s experience. For me, that’s important because we made the same mistakes at Twickenham and Paris,” he said.

“We have a plan. I’m not going to reveal it today. We all need to believe that it is possible to win. What is interesting is the attitude of the players.

“We respect the challenge and we will take this week with a lot of seriousness and good preparation so as not to have any regrets after the game. That’s the most important thing about showing our best face. I think we’re able to do that.”

La Rochelle do at least have previous. They accounted for Leinster in last year’s semi-final, albeit at home and among the eerie emptiness of stadia during the pandemic. This will be in front of a crowd, but O’Gara is insistent: Leinster will not be as strong away from Dublin.

“What Leinster did against Toulouse was a great performance. But, it was at the Aviva Stadium, at home. It is up to us to recreate similar conditions in Marseille to stress them out and put them under pressure,” he said.

“It’s going to be a real final. Last year we suffered in an empty stadium and it was horrible. Now we move on. In Marseille, it’s going to be an important day for the club. The Champions Cup deserves a stadium like this.”