Champions Cup: Holders La Rochelle overwhelm three-time winners Saracens to reach the semi-finals

La Rochelle produced a much improved display, with Levani Botia and Tawera Kerr-Barlow to the fore, as they defeated Saracens 24-10 in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Ronan O’Gara’s men were surprisingly poor against an injury-hit Gloucester last weekend, snatching a 29-26 triumph late on, but they were impressive in this last-eight contest.

The Frenchmen physically dominated their English opponents and earned a series of penalties, quite often earned by Botia’s breakdown expertise, which Antoine Hastoy kicked for a 9-3 lead.

Kerr-Barlow then truly rewarded their dominance, finishing off a well-worked score for a 16-3 advantage at the interval.

Sarries battled hard but La Rochelle were consistently winning the gain line battle, both in attack and defence, and the hosts effectively sealed the triumph when their scrum-half touched down for the second time.

Although Eroni Mawi did give Saracens hope, another Hastoy three-pointer rubberstamped their passage to the Champions Cup last-four, where they will face Exeter Chiefs.

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The champions fired the first shots with their early pressure earning them two penalties which Antoine Hastoy kicked in the first and fourth minutes. The home outside-half then missed with a third shot a few minutes later.

All three kicks were down to their tigerish attitude at the breakdown, with Ben Earl, Billy Vunipola and Alex Goode all being punished in that phase. Fijian Botia, who switches between centre and openside flanker, was brilliant at the contact area and went on to win a stream of turnovers.

Saracens got their first chance to build pressure in the home 22 after Owen Farrell kicked a penalty to within 10 metres. They could not turn that raid into points, but picked up three from their next entry after 22 minutes when Farrell kicked a penalty from in front of the posts after former Saracens man Will Skelton had infringed.

That attack came at a high cost as Saracens lost number eight Billy Vunipola to what looked like a serious injury to his right knee. The England back-row man tried to limp off, but was eventually taken to the dressing room by stretcher and watched the second half on crutches.

Jackson Wray came on to replace him and gave Hastoy a fourth shot at goal just before the half-hour mark when Botia turned him over. Hastoy hit the target and then six minutes later converted a great try from his half-back partner Kerr-Barlow.

The move began on halfway, with Skelton leading the route one charge. Hooker Pierre Bourgarit was the next to carry, before prop Reda Wardi joined the party. By now the champions were deep in the Saracens 22 and Kerr-Barlow used his number eight Gregory Alldritt as a runaround post before finding a gaping hole to exploit to claim the try.

Perfect hands from Alldritt 👌
Space found from Kerr Barlow 👏

Sensational try from the reigning champs, @StadeRochelais 💛#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/T5mhamAa23

— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) April 9, 2023

That made it 16-3 to the home side at the break and left the Saracens with a mountain to climb to get back into the game.

The task got even harder when Kerr-Barlow picked up his second try of the match in the 58th minute. Full-back Brice Dulin made ground over halfway and Kerr-Barlow went right from the ruck. The outstanding Botia joined the backline and dummied his way past Farrell before giving his scrum-half an inside pass to reach the line.

Saracens finally managed to hit back with a try from a close-range tap penalty by replacement prop Mawi at the posts, which Farrell easily improved to cut the gap temporarily to 11 points.

Hastoy extended that to 14 with another penalty, but then La Rochelle had to show the defensive side to their game as they held up Earl and then Maro Itoje over their line with Dulin in the sin-bin for a high tackle.

READ MORE: Exeter Chiefs’ lightning start helps them into the semi-finals as they see off sluggish Stormers