LA ROCHELLE HAVE been clocking up the air miles over the last few days, travelling from France to South Africa and back again either side of their Champions Cup round of 16 defeat of the Stormers, and Ronan O’Gara’s men were in the skies again yesterday as they turned their attention to a quarter-final date with old foes Leinster.
The defending champions are heading back to Dublin this weekend for a repeat of last year’s final, but they’ll spend the week plotting and preparing in O’Gara’s homeland, having landed in Cork yesterday.
Having toppled Leinster in each of the last two finals, as well as a 2021 semi-final meeting in France, it will be fascinating to see what O’Gara has up his sleeve this time around. La Rochelle have struggled for consistency in the Top 14 this season – they sit fifth with 10 wins and 10 losses – and while they impressed in coming from 16-0 down to win in Cape Town, they saw Mannie Libbok miss a last-gasp conversion that would have ended their European dreams for the season.
Yet knockout rugby is where La Rochelle thrive. This is a team who have shown time and again they know how to win when the pressure is highest.
The same cannot be said for Leinster. Leo Cullen’s men stormed into a 17-0 lead in last year’s decider but still ended up watching the French side lift the trophy on their turf. A year previously, Leinster led for most of the game in Marseille but Arthur Retière pounced for the decisive score in the dying moments.
Saturday’s winners will still have a semi-final and final to negotiate, but this is the game Leinster have been preparing for all season. Beating La Rochelle won’t guarantee they’ll end the campaign as champions, but it would be arguably their biggest result since they last claimed the trophy in 2018.
The statement signing of Jacques Nienaber as assistant coach was made with an eye to steeling their defence but also strengthening their mindset in those championship minutes. One imagines he’d have liked this game to come a little further down the line, but this weekend we’ll see just how much of an impact the South African has made.
Leinster have of course beaten La Rochelle already this season, and while the aggression and accuracy they brought to the pool stage win in December can be a template for this rematch, the group know knockout rugby takes on a life of its own – with the province’s unconvincing win against Leicester Tigers on Saturday a prime example.
“It’s pressure rugby, isn’t it?” said Leo Cullen.
“That’s why everyone does the grind they do, to get to this point, and playing big stadiums and leaving it all out there.
“It’s trying to manage that [feeling of] just having to turn up today [against Leicester Tigers] and how motivated a team we were up against.
“It was bloody tough work out there. This week I don’t think anyone is going to be having those conversations, are they? Because you have a repeat of the final from the two previous seasons and two games that went right down to the wire which didn’t go our way.
“If we manage things slightly differently maybe it is within our control but you have to give it to the opposition as well, hugely resourced team and they recruit from all around the globe. You see the quality of players they have and we need to be focused on what that involves.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? You want to be up against the top teams. That’s been the last couple of seasons and you can wind the clock back further, 10 years ago, when it was Toulon winning the European Cup as it was then.
We’re at home in a big game against the reigning champions and it’s a massively exciting challenge. Get the juices flowing.”
The December win over O’Gara’s men is a handy psychological boost to have in the pocket, but we’ll surely be in for a more open game this weekend. With the wind and rain hammering the Stade Marcel Deflandre, both teams had to keep things tight. At Aviva Stadium, both will hope to bring more ambition in attack.
“I don’t think you can really compare,” Cullen said of the December win in France.
“It’s on the day. The same the previous days, there was very little between the teams. We had leads in both of those finals which we weren’t able to hold on to, but that is some game management and young players have been through that experience.
“Players are two years on now and they have had that experience and playing with Ireland during the Six Nations or the World Cup. It’s just making sure everyone adds their bit to the mix.
“It will be on the day with two sets of incredibly motivated players doing the best for their clubs and wanting to put on a big performance.
“It’s great that there is lots of intrigue around the battle. They’ll be saying all the good things they try to do and we will try to play to our strengths as well. We’ll have a good exchange hopefully.”
A massive week lies ahead.
