LA ROCHELLE HAVE arrived in Cork to begin their preparation for Saturday’s eagerly-anticipated Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster in Dublin.
Ronan O’Gara has decided to bring his team to his native county for a week of training ahead of the latest chapter of what has become a heated rivalry with Leo Cullen’s Leinster.
It’s understood that La Rochelle will be based in the Fota Island Resort this week before travelling up to Dublin before their captain’s run at the Aviva Stadium on Friday.
La Rochelle only arrived back in France from South Africa yesterday, having beaten the Stormers narrowly in their Round of 16 clash in Cape Town. Rather than settling in at home in La Rochelle, O’Gara has decided to land in Ireland early and get his team focused on another big challenge.
It’s an intriguing decision from the La Rochelle boss and almost unheard of in Irish rugby to travel this early in a match week. Bringing an entire squad and coaching staff to Ireland for a week is obviously very expensive but the French club clearly feel the outlay is worth it to help their team recover from the South Africa trip and be ready for Leinster.
The Top 14 side have enjoyed dominance of this rivalry in recent seasons, beating Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-finals in 2021, then winning two finals against Cullen’s side in the past two seasons. Leinster have been installed as six-point favourites by the bookies early this week but they’ve been favoured in this tie before.
There is now huge edge in the relationship following an altercation involving O’Gara, Will Skelton, Seán O’Brien, and Johnny Sexton outside the match officials’ changing room at half time of last year’s final at the Aviva Stadium.
Following that win in Dublin, La Rochelle captain Grégory Alldritt said Leinster skipper James Ryan had not made eye contact with him while shaking hands after the coin toss, although photographs showed that Ryan had looked Alldritt in the eye. O’Gara also suggested that La Rochelle had felt disrespected by the logistics around their visit to Dublin.
The last three meetings between the teams, particularly the two finals, have been brutal battles and more of the same is anticipated this Saturday.
O’Gara will be expecting a much better performance from his team than what they delivered in Cape Town, where they benefitted from a last-gasp missed conversion from Stormers out-half Manie Libbok to win 22-21.
La Rochelle were poor in the first half, kicking badly into a very strong wind, as well as overplaying in the middle third of the pitch, either forcing uncharacteristically high-risk offloads or passing out the back door to width before they had actually gone forward. It was no surprise to hear that there were harsh words at the half-time break.
“Ronan gave one of his famous ‘Franglais’ speeches with a lot of words that we cannot repeat,” fullback Brice Dulin told Midi Olympique.
Irish lock Ultan Dillane said O’Gara had told his players they were in danger of throwing away the history they had created for themselves over the past few years.
Their second-half performance was much better as La Rochelle came from 16-0 down to win. They were far more direct and narrow in attack, with scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow, talismanic number eight Alldritt, and mammoth lock Skelton doing damage with carries in the tight.
Cork Airport / Twitter
Cork Airport / Twitter / Twitter
The French side’s power game was too much for the Stormers as three tries got them out in front and they clung on to win thanks to Libbok’s missed conversion attempt into that nightmarish wind.
La Rochelle also served Leinster another reminder of their breakdown quality in the process, with Alldritt, Jonathan Danty, Levani Botia, and UJ Seuteni all coming up with important jackal turnovers for O’Gara’s side.
Forwards coach Donnacha Ryan will have been pleased with a 100% return on La Rochelle’s lineout throw ahead of an important battle with Leinster in that area and while their scrum struggling initially, 20-year-old loosehead prop Louis Penverne stayed in the fight and helped them to get on top in that set-piece too.
La Rochelle never looked flustered despite the Stormers’ big lead and their mental strength is one of the reasons O’Gara will be confident this week. To come back from 17-0 down against Leinster after just 13 minutes of last year’s final in Dublin was impressive.
It’s fascinating that La Rochelle are now in Cork working away on their latest plan for Leinster’s downfall. It remains to be seen if O’Gara brings his players to a few of his favourite spots but he’s certain to get a warm welcome from his fellow Corkonians if La Rochelle venture out.
It promises to be a fun week and a brilliant game of rugby on Saturday evening.
