Leinster end La Rochelle hoodoo in brutal Champions Cup battle

Colin Newboult
La Rochelle and Leinster going head-to-head in the Champions Cup 2023.

La Rochelle and Leinster going head-to-head in the Champions Cup in 2023.

Leinster finally got the better of La Rochelle as they emerged with a 16-9 victory in the Champions Cup on Sunday.

It was a brutal affair played at a rain-sodden Stade Marcel-Deflandre, but it was the Irish province that kept their composure in the key moments.

At times, the French outfit lost their heads, which affected their execution in the latter stages. That was in stark contrast to the past two years, where Ronan O’Gara’s men secured late victories over their rivals.

Leinster deserved their win, scoring the only try of the game through Jordan Larmour, while Ciaran Frawley kicked three penalties.

La Rochelle’s response came via the boot of Antoine Hastoy, but it was the visitors who went some way to making up for those losses in the 2022 and 2023 Champions Cup finals.

Click here for teams and scorers

These two teams do not like each other and it was pretty evident in the opening stages in what was a hugely physical contest.

The atrocious conditions, which saw rain lash down for the full 80 minutes, made for a scrappy affair, but there was also plenty of niggle as neither team backed down.

It was the hosts who had the better of the opening exchanges when Pierre Bourgarit broke down the middle and sent the Leinster defence into reverse.

Under pressure, the Irishmen duly infringed and Hastoy landed the penalty to take La Rochelle into a 3-0 advantage.

Leo Cullen’s men soon responded and took play towards the opposition line as the home side began to make errors and concede penalties.

The desperation showed by the French outfit to keep their rivals at bay displayed how much pride was at stake at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre, but it also led to several flare-ups.

Once such incident saw a scuffle break out, leading to a yellow card apiece as Jonathan Danty and Joe McCarthy were sin-binned.

The penalty was awarded to Leinster, though, and from the resultant attack, good work from Harry Byrne and Jimmy O’Brien gave Larmour a simple run to the line.

Byrne, who was selected to start ahead of Frawley, landed the conversion, but the playmaker would not see out the half after being taken off injured.

By that point, La Rochelle had reduced the arrears to one point through Hastoy’s second penalty, but Frawley came onto the field to restore that four-point buffer at the break.

The contest continued to be attritional in the second period, but it was the hosts who started the brighter, with their scrum getting on top. However, Leinster’s goal-line defence was magnificent and the Frenchmen had to be content with a third three-pointer from their fly-half.

That profligacy cost them as the Irish province just managed to keep them at arm’s length. The small moments were being won by the four-time champions, which was demonstrated when Charlie Ngatai broke through.

The former All Blacks centre took them deep into the 22 and, after another La Rochelle infringement, Frawley extended their lead to 13-9.

O’Gara’s men were simply making far too many errors and their hopes were extinguished by Leinster’s replacement fly-half, who kicked a stunning long-range effort to seal a fine win.

The teams

La Rochelle: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Ulupano Seuteni, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Jules Favre, 10 Antoine Hastoy, 9 Tawerra Kerr-Barlow, 8 Yoan Tanga, 7 Levani Botia, 6 Paul Boudehent, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Thomas Lavault, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Pierre Bourgarit (c), 1 Reda Wardi
Replacements: 16 Sacha Idoumi, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Georges-Henri Colombe, 19 Ultan Dillane, 20 Rémi Picquette, 21 Judicaël Cancoriet, 22 Teddy Iribaren, Hugo Reus

Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Jordan Larmour, 13 Garry Ringrose (cc), 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Will Connors, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 James Ryan (cc), 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rónan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Josh van der Flier, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Charlie Ngatai

Referee: Matthew Carley (Eng)
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales (Eng), Paul Dix (Eng)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (Eng)

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Champions Cup