FOR MOST TEAMS, a Champions Cup title in the bag would represent a job well done for the year but Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle are wired differently.
In France, the domestic title is still the most cherished prize up for grabs so if the back-to-back European Champions don’t get over the line in today’s Top 14 final [KO 8pm, Premier Sport 2], they’ll head into the summer break bitterly disappointed.
“The season starts on Saturday,” was how O’Gara himself put it ahead of last weekend’s semi-final date with Bordeaux, a game his team went on to win 24-13. “In France, the Bouclier de Brennus is more important than the Champions Cup.”
And so, this evening La Rochelle head into the biggest game of their season as they look to win a first Top 14 title in the club’s history, taking on 21-time winners Toulouse – who thrashed Racing 41-14 to book their place in the final – at the Stade de France.
It’s been quite the journey for a club that just 10 years ago were playing their rugby in the Pro D2.
They’ve reached this stage before, facing the same opposition at the same venue in the 2021 decider. On the occasion of La Rochelle’s first appearance in a Top 14 final, 15 points from the boot of Thomas Ramos and a Cheslin Kolbe drop-goal helped Toulouse to a deserved 18-8 win.
Two years on, La Rochelle look stronger than ever as they head into French rugby’s showpiece fixture, which is expected to draw in one million TV viewers.
For a start, O’Gara’s side have learned how to play cup rugby and deliver on the biggest days. Just look at how they chipped away at Leinster’s lead in the 2022 Champions Cup final and the calm, confident nature of their stunning comeback win in Dublin last month.
This La Rochelle team is packed with destructive ball-carriers but they bring so much more than brute force to the party. When the occasion demands it, they can play smart, patient rugby while they also have the profile of lethal backline players who can conjure up moments of magic.
They look even more aggressive in defence than they did 12 months ago and play with the confidence of a team who have conquered Europe. They’ve also been able to name the same starting XV that lined out for the Champions Cup final win over Leinster.
Yet their opponents, who have won the Bouclier a record 21 times, have tended to hold the upper hand in this fixture and in many ways, Toulouse are to La Rochelle what La Rochelle have been to Leinster over the past couple of seasons.
In 2021, Ugo Mola’s side – led by the sensational Antoine Dupont – beat La Rochelle in both the Top 14 and Champions Cup finals, and last year, Toulouse again toppled La Rochelle in the Top 14 playoffs.
The fixture has grown into a fascinating rivalry between one of the giants of French rugby and O’Gara’s rising heavyweights, who are seeking to become the 10th side to win the Bouclier since the game turned professional in 1995.
When the sides last met – a regular season Top 14 clash in January – La Rochelle ended an eight-game losing run against a much-changed Toulouse in emphatic fashion, powering to a 30-7 win at a typically packed Stade Marcel Deflandre.
A Toulouse tonight win would see Mola’s side make amends for their trophyless campaign last year while a La Rochelle victory would rubber-stamp their place at the top table in France. The Leinster squad will be interested viewers too, as a La Rochelle win would bump the province up into tier one for the 2023/24 Champions Cup pool draw.
The good news for Leinster is that this La Rochelle side are desperately determined to etch their name on the trophy. The Top 14 season is a grind and even the competition’s strongest teams struggle to piece together sustained winning runs – across their 26 regular season games, La Rochelle were beaten nine times while Toulouse lost eight and drew once.
As much as La Rochelle will cherish their two Champions Cup wins, Top 14 success is viewed as the ultimate reward at the end of a long, demanding season. Or, as La Rochelle backs coach Sébastien Boboul describes it, “the culmination of a marathon.”
Along the way, the squad have bought into O’Gara’s way of thinking while the Corkman has gleaned a greater understanding of French rugby. Champions Cup rugby remains the most romantic time of year for O’Gara but his respect for the Bouclier has only increased since arriving at La Rochelle. They are different challenges which require different approaches. Writing in his Irish Examiner column a few months back, O’Gara summed it up in one sentence: “You can win in Europe with a team, but you need a group to win the Top 14.”
And this group have learned to embrace occasions such as the one they face into tomorrow. Ahead of this year’s Champions Cup final – La Rochelle’s third European decider in a row – O’Gara remarked how different the feeling was compared to their first appearance in 2021. More calm, more assured.
It will take a serious Toulouse effort to stop O’Gara and Co from making more history in Paris.
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