Leinster 40
La Rochelle 13
AS THE CLOCK wound down at Aviva Stadium, you could almost feel the moment Leinster’s supporters finally began to let go of all the tension they felt around this fixture.
Remarkably, their team were steamrolling La Rochelle in a Champions Cup knockout game. Remarkably, La Rochelle simply didn’t look to have any answers.
In the end this Champions Cup quarter-final was sewn up long before the final whistle, Leinster turning in a highly efficient, accurate performance against a La Rochelle side who looked as though they carried every last one of their recent air miles onto the pitch with them.
On a crisp spring evening in Dublin, Leo Cullen’s men got the job done with plenty to spare, putting five tries on their great French rivals in a statement performance that suggests this year, they might finally conquer Europe again.
James Lowe crossed twice, with Jamison Gibson-Park, Ryan Baird and Dan Sheehan also scoring, while the excellent Ross Byrne contributed 15 points off the boot.
This was seriously impressive stuff from a Leinster team who can now look forward to a home semi-final in early May, which will be played in Croke Park.
After an utterly absorbing first half, Leinster led by 10, although La Rochelle ended the opening period with a much-needed warning shot by bulldozing over with a driving maul try.
That score, touched down by loosehead prop Louis Penverne and converted by out-half Antoine Hastoy, left the score 23-13 in Leinster’s favour at the break.
It was a promising position for Leo Cullen’s challengers, but they perhaps should have been further clear of the defending back-to-back champions.
Yet the province then pulled clear with a dominant second-half showing, outscoring the French side 17-0 after the break.
Across that opening 40 Leinster played some exceptional rugby, with moments of brilliant, inventive attacking play supported by a relentless physicality around their defensive work, their two first-half tries coming courtesy of Lowe and Gibson-Park, with Byrne flawless off the tee, added two conversions and three long-range penalties.
His first effort opened the scoring eight minutes in, taking advantage of a rising wind to split the posts from over 40 metres out.
Leinster played nearly all of the game in La Rochelle’s half across the early stages, while notably, their big moments didn’t just come from the usual suspects.
An early La Rochelle lineout near the Leinster 22 saw the province slow their maul’s momentum before Joe McCarthy came up with the steal.
La Rochelle threatened again when Dillyn Leyds broke forward from deep, Teddy Thomas and Tawera Kerr-Barlow carrying the French side into the 22 before Jason Jenkins hit the scrum-half, with Jordan Larmour swooping in to make the turnover.
Those moments fired up the crowd and Leinster responded with a well-orchestrated team score.
It started with a nice crossfield from centre Jamie Osborne, the ball bobbling awkwardly before Leinster flew in to retain possession. The ball was worked wide, where the lively Larmour was on hand to try his luck, but when Thomas stopped him in his tracks Leinster recycled the ball efficiently before moving it the width of the pitch. With numbers up, Caelan Doris hit Byrne, who under pressure produced a lovely tip-pass to send Lowe over.
The out-half converted the score and Leinster were humming.
A Hastoy penalty put La Rochelle on the scoreboard 20 minutes in, but Leinster continued to build pressure.
Opportunities came and went for Cullen’s men. Will Connors backed himself in a two-on-one, ignoring Lowe on his shoulder, and while the winger eventually got over the line referee Karl Dickson deemed the ball was held up.
Minutes later Gibson-Park was sniping after an elaborate Leinster strike play, but Gregory Alldritt and Tolu Latu combined to hold the ball up again.
Having left those points behind, Byrne settled his team again with another huge penalty to tack on a welcome three.
The tee barely left the field for the next few minutes, Byrne finding his range along the space between the halfway and 40 with two more three-pointers either side of Hastoy kicking his second penalty of the evening.
A Lowe kick out on the full allowed La Rochelle a chance to push in the Leinster 22 but the home side rode out that storm.
Then they burst into life. McCarthy got them moving with a nice carry and offload before Lowe found himself racing down the wing, inviting the defender on before disguising a beautiful pass off his shoulder to Gibson-Park, who had a clear run at the tryline. After a brief TMO check for a forward pass Byrne converted from the sideline to push his team 21-6 up.
A 17-0 first-half lead felt fitting. Having surrendered the same advantage in last year’s final, now Leinster had a chance to drive on and finish the job.
La Rochelle responded with a timely reminder of their fierce power game.
With the clock in the red, two opportunities to strike from a lineout failed before things finally clicked for Ronan O’Gara’s men.
Throwing to the tail, Gregory Alldritt rose highest to claim possession and set a huge maul effort rolling, La Rochelle mincing the Leinster pack as Penverne went over. Hastoy converted and a breathless first half came to a close, Leinster 10 clear after a huge effort in front of an appreciative sell-out crowd, which had pockets of yellow and white interspersed between the waves of blue.
The half-time entertainment involved O’Gara making his way to the pitch to test the wind, and when the teams came back out Leinster picked up where they left off, driving their superiority home.
Within minutes they were flying at La Rochelle in numbers, their speed of thinking and wonderful handling ensuring the big hits didn’t stop the ball from finding its desired target.
After a smart drag-back from Tadhg Furlong, Robbie Henshaw and Byrne added sharp passes to hit Lowe, who set Baird rampaging down the left flank.
The return pass to Lowe looked the obvious option, but instead Baird backed himself to go all the way, beating a poor defensive effort from Hastoy to run in Leinster’s third. There was a lengthy stoppage as Kerr-Barlow received treatment, the La Rochelle scrum-half leaving on a stretcher before Byrne added the conversion, restoring that 17-point cushion.
Leinster continued to frustrate their visitors with their calm, accurate defensive work, Gibson-Park becoming the latest to come away with the ball after another period of La Rochelle pressure.
Each one of those defensive wins seemed to inject more life into Leinster, while La Rochelle – who this time last week were 14,000km away in Cape Town – looked increasingly leggy.
Having seen their European season ended by La Rochelle three times in a row, now Leinster had a chance to put the foot down.
They chased La Rochelle down again, going close in the corner after more sharp handling from Byrne and Ciarán Frawley. When the score didn’t come they calmly took advantage of an overload on the far side, Lowe playing the final pass before Sheehan accelerated over.
This time, Byrne’s conversion struck the post, but Leinster had a 22-point cushion to defend for the closing 20 minutes, Cullen using the break in play to send in his replacement frontrow.
He could almost have togged out himself, as by this point La Rochelle simply couldn’t live with the accuracy and intensity of Leinster’s play.
On each attack Leinster looked capable of slicing La Rochelle open, the province continually mixing up the point of attack to stretch their opponents.
As the replacements settled in Henshaw decided to put his footballing skills to the test, measuring a gorgeous kick in the direction of Lowe, who gobbled up the bouncing ball to score his second of the evening. The icing on the cake.
Ciarán Frawley saw his conversion strike the post as Ross Byrne made way for his younger brother, Harry, leaving the pitch after a fine showing in the 10 shirt.
He was able to bask in the final quarter as his team saw out the contest with some ease, McCarthy spoiling a late La Rochelle venture into the 22 with another fine steal. La Rochelle responded with some pushing and shoving, but in truth the fight had long been sapped out of O’Gara’s men.
La Rochelle have achieved incredible things over the past few seasons but this year the Champions Cup will be heading to a new home.
With their old foes slayed, maybe this will finally be Leinster year’s again.
The drive for five is on.
Leinster scorers:
Tries – Lowe [2], Gibson-Park, Baird, Sheehan
Penalties – R Byrne [3/3]
Conversions – R Byrne [3/4], Frawley [0/1]
La Rochelle scorers:
Try – Penverne
Penalties – Hastoy [2/2]
Conversion – Hastoy [1/1]
LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Jordan Larmour, Robbie Henshaw, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe; Ross Byrne (Harry Byrne 63), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath, 73); Andrew Porter (Michael Milne, 58), Dan Sheehan (Rónan Kelleher, 58), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala’alatoa, 58); Joe McCarthy, Jason Jenkins (Ross Molony, 51); Ryan Baird, Will Connors (Josh van der Flier, 49), Caelan Doris (capt) (Jack Conan, 72).
LA ROCHELLE: Dillyn Leyds (Ihaia West HT); Jack Nowell, UJ Seuteni, Jonathan Danty, Teddy Thomas; Antoine Hastoy, Tawera Kerr-Barlow (Teddy Iribaren, 45); Louis Penverne (Alexandre Kaddouri, 53), Tolu Latu (Quentin Lespiaucq-Brettes, 53), Uini Atonio (Joel Sclavi, 53); Ultan Dillane, Will Skelton (Thomas Lavault, 75); Judicael Cancoriet (Paul Boudehent, 64), Levani Botia (Yoan Tanga, 64), Greg Alldritt (capt).
Referee: Karl Dickson [RFU]
