HAD IT BEEN any other coach, or a Round 3 road trip against any side other than Leinster, we wouldn’t have even wondered this week about Stade Rochelais’ selection for today’s game at the Aviva Stadium (5:30pm, Premier Sports).
Several of their most important players, including captain Grégory Aldritt, have started their side’s last three games in the Top 14. A home victory over Harlequins next weekend will squeeze them through to the Champions Cup last 16, irrespective of today’s outcome in Dublin. And a week after hosting Quins, La Rochelle face a key league trip to Clermont, who sit behind them only on points difference in eighth position in the Top 14 table.
As such, to start the likes of Aldritt, Uini Atonio, and Oscar Jegou against Leinster would likely dictate that such frontline players would have to play in six consecutive games — unless, of course, La Rochelle were to beat Leinster, in which case they would earn some wiggle room for rotation against Quins.
The logical thing for Les Rochelais to have done would have been to stand down the big guns for the Leinster game, walk off the inevitable paddling, and start a new mini-block from next week having boxed off a rest week that’s going to have to happen at some point anyway.
Ronan O’Gara said logic bedamned and chose to do the fun thing instead: La Rochelle have arrived in Dublin all guns ablazing, and one of European club rugby’s great modern rivalries will gain a worthwhile chapter this evening, one way or another.
Indeed, Leinster-La Rochelle is probably already onto its follow-up novel. Really, Leinster closed the first book with their 40-13 quarter-final success over the Frenchmen in 2024, penning a gratifying ending to what had been a borderline sadistic psychological thriller to that point.
So resounding was Leinster’s victory that it effectively marked the end of O’Gara’s first team cycle, proving true the lingering suspicion that his two-time European champions were past the point of being able to add a third trophy to the club’s cabinet.
In truth, they haven’t looked capable of coming any closer during the 20 months of transition since, but in that time, the club has placed a greater emphasis on recruiting young players and internal talent production in pursuit of a more sustainable future period of success.
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Dan Sheehan scoring in Leinster's 40-13 success over La Rochelle in 2024. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Out went 30-somethings Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Teddy Thomas last summer, while the marquee signings who replaced them, France international scrum-half Nolann le Garrec and Georgian flier Davit Niniashvili, are still just 23. Meanwhile, several even younger, thrilling French talents have emerged as viable first-team operators well ahead of schedule.
All of Diego Jurd (19), Charles Kanté-Samba (20) and Simeli Daunivucu (20) featured heavily for France U20s in 2025, with the baby Bleus winning the Six Nations and finishing third in the World Cup, while Lucas Andjisseramatchi (19) has already established himself as a leader among La Rochelle’s younger cohort.
Back row Andjisseramatchi, a product of the Massy academy just south of Paris, was chosen as captain as O’Gara brought a second string to Cape Town to face the Stormers in Round 2 of the Champions Cup. He made his first-team debut as an 18-year-old last season and has made 13 further appearances in the time since, including against Toulouse and Toulon in the last fortnight. Andjisseramatchi, however, has not been included in La Rochelle’s 23 to face Leinster.
Neither has out-half Jurd, who also still has another year at the U20 grade. A local talent, Jurd has appeared on eight occasions in 2025/26, starting and playing virtually every minute of La Rochelle’s last two home victories against Bayonne and an under-strength Toulon respectively.
Starting at the Aviva, then, will be lock Kanté-Samba, which is hardly a surprise: the six-foot-seven second row, who debuted last season, has already made 11 first-team appearances this term, seven of them from the get-go. He’ll pack down with Will Skelton at the Aviva.
Perhaps most exciting of all, though, is versatile centre Daunivucu, who will make his sixth start from 10 appearances this season in Dublin.
Daunivucu, who, like Kanté-Samba, broke through in ’24/25, is the son of former Fiji Sevens captain and World Cup winner Jone Daunivucu. Born in Fiji, Daunivucu Junior moved to Grenoble, where his dad went on to become a club legend, when he was a year old.
Daunivucu bears all of his dad’s dexterity and dynamism and, having played plenty at out-half during his younger years, boasts a sound tactical kicking game.
He has flourished for La Rochelle in the absence of the injured Jonathan Danty this season and is considered a truly special talent, as was already evidenced when he toured Argentina with Fabien Galthié’s French senior development outfit in the summer of 2024.
It will be fascinating to see how Daunivucu fares in the face of Leinster’s midfield duo, with Robbie Henshaw and Rieko Ioane holding just the 172 combined Test caps for Ireland and New Zealand respectively.
Simeli Daunivucu in action for France U20s against Italy last year. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
While O’Gara has named his strongest side possible, La Rochelle are, like their hosts, still beset with injuries to senior players.
As well as longer-term absentee Danty, starting hooker Pierre Bourgarit and fellow French international Paul Boudehent are still unavailable. So too are former France U20 lock Matthias Haddad, Fijian back Semi Lagivala, and Fijian-Australian wing Suliasi Vunivalu, while Ireland international Ultan Dillane has also been ruled out for today’s game.
La Rochelle’s entire season to this point has been a story of injury, inconsistency, and the causal connection between them.
Shorn of 10 first-teamers, O’Gara’s side suffered a humiliating 60-14 mauling at the hands of an Antoine Dupont-inspired Toulouse a fortnight ago. They followed that up with a 66-0 destruction of a heavily rotated Toulon outfit last Sunday.
In the Top 14 this season, Les Maritimes have won seven, lost seven, and currently sit seventh.
In the Champions Cup, they disposed of Leicester at Stade Marcel Deflandre on the opening weekend before making 14 changes for their follow-up trip to Cape Town where they lost by 21 points to the Stormers.
Perhaps most pertinently, though, La Rochelle have lost eight of their last nine road games in all competitions, while Leinster have scored 171 points in their last four home fixtures, an average of 42 per game.
Still, while La Rochelle have lost their last three to Leo Cullen’s side, that includes last season’s pool-stage squeaker in which they were heavily unfancied and came close. O’Gara will equally be encouraged by a tame-looking bench by the hosts’ standards, which features potential debutant props in Jerry Cahir and Andrew Sparrow.
A chance for the rest of us, then, to observe on both sides the players who will inherit the rivalry and add to the Leinster-La Rochelle story into the future.
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Future star Daunivucu a new character to watch in next chapter of Leinster-La Rochelle rivalry
HAD IT BEEN any other coach, or a Round 3 road trip against any side other than Leinster, we wouldn’t have even wondered this week about Stade Rochelais’ selection for today’s game at the Aviva Stadium (5:30pm, Premier Sports).
Several of their most important players, including captain Grégory Aldritt, have started their side’s last three games in the Top 14. A home victory over Harlequins next weekend will squeeze them through to the Champions Cup last 16, irrespective of today’s outcome in Dublin. And a week after hosting Quins, La Rochelle face a key league trip to Clermont, who sit behind them only on points difference in eighth position in the Top 14 table.
As such, to start the likes of Aldritt, Uini Atonio, and Oscar Jegou against Leinster would likely dictate that such frontline players would have to play in six consecutive games — unless, of course, La Rochelle were to beat Leinster, in which case they would earn some wiggle room for rotation against Quins.
The logical thing for Les Rochelais to have done would have been to stand down the big guns for the Leinster game, walk off the inevitable paddling, and start a new mini-block from next week having boxed off a rest week that’s going to have to happen at some point anyway.
Ronan O’Gara said logic bedamned and chose to do the fun thing instead: La Rochelle have arrived in Dublin all guns ablazing, and one of European club rugby’s great modern rivalries will gain a worthwhile chapter this evening, one way or another.
Indeed, Leinster-La Rochelle is probably already onto its follow-up novel. Really, Leinster closed the first book with their 40-13 quarter-final success over the Frenchmen in 2024, penning a gratifying ending to what had been a borderline sadistic psychological thriller to that point.
So resounding was Leinster’s victory that it effectively marked the end of O’Gara’s first team cycle, proving true the lingering suspicion that his two-time European champions were past the point of being able to add a third trophy to the club’s cabinet.
In truth, they haven’t looked capable of coming any closer during the 20 months of transition since, but in that time, the club has placed a greater emphasis on recruiting young players and internal talent production in pursuit of a more sustainable future period of success.
Out went 30-somethings Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Teddy Thomas last summer, while the marquee signings who replaced them, France international scrum-half Nolann le Garrec and Georgian flier Davit Niniashvili, are still just 23. Meanwhile, several even younger, thrilling French talents have emerged as viable first-team operators well ahead of schedule.
All of Diego Jurd (19), Charles Kanté-Samba (20) and Simeli Daunivucu (20) featured heavily for France U20s in 2025, with the baby Bleus winning the Six Nations and finishing third in the World Cup, while Lucas Andjisseramatchi (19) has already established himself as a leader among La Rochelle’s younger cohort.
Back row Andjisseramatchi, a product of the Massy academy just south of Paris, was chosen as captain as O’Gara brought a second string to Cape Town to face the Stormers in Round 2 of the Champions Cup. He made his first-team debut as an 18-year-old last season and has made 13 further appearances in the time since, including against Toulouse and Toulon in the last fortnight. Andjisseramatchi, however, has not been included in La Rochelle’s 23 to face Leinster.
Neither has out-half Jurd, who also still has another year at the U20 grade. A local talent, Jurd has appeared on eight occasions in 2025/26, starting and playing virtually every minute of La Rochelle’s last two home victories against Bayonne and an under-strength Toulon respectively.
Starting at the Aviva, then, will be lock Kanté-Samba, which is hardly a surprise: the six-foot-seven second row, who debuted last season, has already made 11 first-team appearances this term, seven of them from the get-go. He’ll pack down with Will Skelton at the Aviva.
Perhaps most exciting of all, though, is versatile centre Daunivucu, who will make his sixth start from 10 appearances this season in Dublin.
Daunivucu, who, like Kanté-Samba, broke through in ’24/25, is the son of former Fiji Sevens captain and World Cup winner Jone Daunivucu. Born in Fiji, Daunivucu Junior moved to Grenoble, where his dad went on to become a club legend, when he was a year old.
Daunivucu bears all of his dad’s dexterity and dynamism and, having played plenty at out-half during his younger years, boasts a sound tactical kicking game.
He has flourished for La Rochelle in the absence of the injured Jonathan Danty this season and is considered a truly special talent, as was already evidenced when he toured Argentina with Fabien Galthié’s French senior development outfit in the summer of 2024.
It will be fascinating to see how Daunivucu fares in the face of Leinster’s midfield duo, with Robbie Henshaw and Rieko Ioane holding just the 172 combined Test caps for Ireland and New Zealand respectively.
While O’Gara has named his strongest side possible, La Rochelle are, like their hosts, still beset with injuries to senior players.
As well as longer-term absentee Danty, starting hooker Pierre Bourgarit and fellow French international Paul Boudehent are still unavailable. So too are former France U20 lock Matthias Haddad, Fijian back Semi Lagivala, and Fijian-Australian wing Suliasi Vunivalu, while Ireland international Ultan Dillane has also been ruled out for today’s game.
La Rochelle’s entire season to this point has been a story of injury, inconsistency, and the causal connection between them.
Shorn of 10 first-teamers, O’Gara’s side suffered a humiliating 60-14 mauling at the hands of an Antoine Dupont-inspired Toulouse a fortnight ago. They followed that up with a 66-0 destruction of a heavily rotated Toulon outfit last Sunday.
In the Top 14 this season, Les Maritimes have won seven, lost seven, and currently sit seventh.
In the Champions Cup, they disposed of Leicester at Stade Marcel Deflandre on the opening weekend before making 14 changes for their follow-up trip to Cape Town where they lost by 21 points to the Stormers.
Perhaps most pertinently, though, La Rochelle have lost eight of their last nine road games in all competitions, while Leinster have scored 171 points in their last four home fixtures, an average of 42 per game.
Still, while La Rochelle have lost their last three to Leo Cullen’s side, that includes last season’s pool-stage squeaker in which they were heavily unfancied and came close. O’Gara will equally be encouraged by a tame-looking bench by the hosts’ standards, which features potential debutant props in Jerry Cahir and Andrew Sparrow.
A chance for the rest of us, then, to observe on both sides the players who will inherit the rivalry and add to the Leinster-La Rochelle story into the future.
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Champions Cup