La Rochelle scrape past Sale Sharks
La Rochelle advanced to the Challenge Cup final when they notched a hard-fought 24-20 win over Sale Sharks at Stade Marcel Deflandre on Saturday.
The Top 14 outfit had to dig deep to secure the result as Sale were competitive throughout and the result was in the balance until the game’s dying moments. In the end, La Rochelle outscored their visitors by three tries to two and the match was evenly poised at half-time with the sides deadlocked at 17-17.
Sale had the better of the early exchanges and opened the scoring in the 14th minute via a penalty try after La Rochelle’s forwards collapsed a maul close to their try-line.
Referee Nigel Owens identified Victor Vito as the guilty party and the former All Blacks back-row was sent to the sin bin for his indiscretion.
La Rochelle opened their account via an Ihaia West penalty shortly afterwards but Sale replied through an AJ MacGinty three-pointer off the kicking tee which meant the visitors led 10-3 midway through the half.
But the game’s complexion changed shortly afterwards when La Rochelle were awarded a penalty try after Denny Solomona prevented Vincent Rattez from scoring a certain try in the left-hand corner with a head-high tackle.
The home side made full use of their numerical advantage and two minutes after Solomona’s exit West put Kini Murimurivalu through a gap with a well-timed pass, deep inside Sale territory, and the full-back crossed for a deserved try.
Despite being under the cosh for most of the time during Solomona’s spell in the sin bin, Sale were still competitive and in the 34th minute Tom Curry charged down an kick from West just outside La Rochelle’s 22. Chris Ashton booted the loose ball ahead and regathered close to the home side’s try-line before diving over for his side’s second try.
La Rochelle drew first blood 10 minutes into the second half when West found Grégory Alldritt out wide with a well-weighted long pass and the France back-row dotted down in the left-hand corner.
West’s conversion gave his side a seven-point buffer and the next 20 minutes was a tight tussle as the teams battled to gain the ascendancy. The Sharks narrowed the gap to four points when MacGinty slotted another penalty, after West was blown up for an illegal hit on Ashton.
West had a chance to secure the result in the 78th minute, when he lined up a shot at goal, but his effort was wide of the mark and Sale upped the ante on attack as they tried to steal the win.
The closing stages proved to be frantic as the sides went in search of victory and there was more drama when La Rochelle were reduced to 14 men again – Jules Favre receiving a yellow card for an off-the-ball foul on Solomona.
Despite that setback, the home side kept Sale at bay during the game’s closing stages and held on for the win which secured them a place in their first-ever final in a European tournament.
The scorers:
For La Rochelle:
Tries: Penalty try, Murimurivalu, Alldritt
Cons: West 2
Pen: West
Yellow Cards: Vito, Favre
For Sale Sharks:
Tries: Penalty try, Ashton
Con: MacGinty
Pens: MacGinty 2
Yellow Card: Solomona
La Rochelle: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Vincent Rattez, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Botia Veivuke, 11 Arthur Retiere, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Alexi Bales, 8 Victor Vito (c), 7 Grégory Alldritt, 6 Wiaan Liebenberg, 5 Mathieu Tanguy, 4 Romain Sazy, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Jean-Charles Orioli, 1 Dany Priso
Replacements: 16 Pierre Bourgarit, 17 Vincent Pelo, 18 Arthur Joly, 19 Thomas Jolmes, 20 Kevin Gourdon, 21 Thomas Berjon, 22 Maxime Lafage, 23 Jules Favre
Sale Sharks: 15 Luke James, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 James O’Connor, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jono Ross (c), 7 Tom Curry, 6 Ben Curry, 5 James Phillips, 4 Josh Beaumont, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Tom Bristow, 18 Joe Jones, 19 Matthew Postlewhaite, 20 Sam Moore, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Aaron Reed
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales), Ian Davies (Wales)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)