DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Toulouse on Friday reached the French Top 14 final with a 39-23 victory over La Rochelle, whose poor discipline saw them reduced to 13 men in the second half of a bruising semi-final.
Toulouse finished the regular season on top of the table and will face either Bordeaux-Begles or Stade Francais in the final at Marseille on 28 June.
Victory in that match would crown Toulouse champions for a 33rd time and give them a European Champions Cup-Top 14 double for the third time after 1996 and 2021.
Ugo Mola’s team scored tries through wingers Blair Kinghorn (22nd minute), Juan Cruz Mallia (30th and 48th) and replacement Matthis Lebel (80th) as well as centre Santiago Chocobares (52nd).
La Rochelle led 20-15 at half-time with hooker Silatolu Latu and back-rower Gregory Alldritt grabbing tries before they fell apart after the break.
International props Uini Atonio (43rd minute) and Reda Wardi (61st) were red-carded for a dangerous tackle and violent play respectively.
Victory mirrored Toulouse’s dominance of the domestic league — they made the semi-finals on the back of a season-best 765 points scored and with 103 tries.
Toulouse will be playing in their fourth final in the last five years.
Of those, they have won three, in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
La Rochelle really showed their true colours this year as a team and organisation as a whole. The only way they try to win games is by physically going out of their way to hurt the opposition. Late tackles, holding down players sinisterly at ruck time, starting fights, mainly all started by Skelton mind you. He’s a proper thug. it’s obviously what O’Gara feeds into their heads because he’s no better himself from the sidelines and has no other game plan or plan B. It just shows you that anyone can become a good head coach if they have the capacity to purchase top international stars from a cross the globe. I’m sure if O’Gara took hold of a team with far popularity with less resources and money then we’d quickly find out what sort of coach he is.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: aside from the props and their stupid actions tonight , I think LR are a superb rugby side..their aggressiveness and physicality around the ruck and breakdown is a thing of beauty ..as is their defense … They are very strong in all areas …absolutely adore their style of rugby…
@Harry O’ Callaghan: in fairness to rog he won 2 hcups with a side spending about 50% less on wages than leinster
@munsterman: Yeah I don’t buy that whatsoever. Leinster produce their own players. They don’t. He won those titles when the majority of his 1st team were international mercenaries.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: Sounds like your waiting to get that of your chest for a while. You really like ROG by the sound of it. No sour grapes at all. Everything so perfect in your little rugby world..!??? No blemishes at all ….
@Harry O’ Callaghan: the irfu give leinster a budget of 10 or so million a year to pay players wages. They then pay the wages of leinsters top players outside that budget on cc’s. There’s no team in world rugby with a wage bill like leinsters. The French teams operate under a cap of about 11m. Also la rochelle is a town of about 70k, do you think rog should just pick players from that area? He deals with an independent club not an offshoot of the French union
@Harry O’ Callaghan: I have never read so much sh$t& in one comment in all my life. Are you steamed or something..what sort of ranting and raving is that…La Rochelle were worthy winners and played some magical rugby as well as being extremely physical over the last few years. O’Gara is a highly respected coach both by his players and peers. Is he extremely passionate and does he over step the mark at times, yes, but that’s sport. Every single team including our own province’s use the dark arts every game. The most successful teams are the ones who don’t get caught often. Those players deserved their red cards and cost their team the game but it does not equate to the bile you’re spouting about La Rochelle and O’Gara in general terms.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: maybe if Leinster took a leaf out of La Rochelles book and were more physical and ruthlessness they wouldn’t have failed the last number of years. It’s exactly what they lack and why they keep coming up short. Munster were able to tap into it and have managed to nick a URC title in the meantime.
@seamus Beirne: Solid input there Seamus!
@munsterman: The IRFU also fund every other province and are extremely lean with them too letting them sign foreign players in almost every regular season. Leinster can afford to fund their own players because they make their revenue through ticket sales at the RDS and Aviva. That’s where the majority of their money comes from. Next season Leinster will have even less foreign imports in the squad and far less than any other province in Ireland or in Europe for that matter.
@anthony davoren: Big wup! Munster couldn’t do it in the champions cup. Leinster have been to three finals in recent years. Munster havent even had the capacity to get out of the stages. Leinster thumped La Rochelle twice this season in case you weren’t aware.
@anthony davoren: You literally offered no substance to your explanation whatsoever. Did you even read what I said? It’s easier to win a champions cup when you can buy some of the best players in the world to fill your 23. Saracens did it. Toulon did it. Clermont did it before that. And now it was La Rochelle that essentially bought all of their resources. There’s literally no denying that. The only teams that never had to fill their squad with world talent was Leinster and Toulouse to a lesser extent. I know O’Gara is your lord saviour Jesus Christ and it probably hurts yous to hear someone calling him out. The truth is he has been found it not once but on multiple occasions this season both in the champions cup and in the Top14. La Rochelle have bought their success. Other teams do it the ethical way.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: You’ve had an absolute nightmare with that one. Embarrassing stuff. If the international job was available tomorrow, the IRFU would be banging down RoG’s door. As a Leinster fan, I had no problem with the Aviva booing. It isn’t like Leinster legends haven’t been booed in Limerick. It is a rivalry after all. But downgrading his achievements as a coach is deranged. You’re a sad man.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: you’re a sad bitter man. Stick with Leo.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: Cullen has proved you wrong. You come across as a bitter pathetic little man. Glad I’m not you so cheers for that on s difficult morning
@Harry O’ Callaghan: good man Harry, get it all off your chest, you are an embarrassment to Leinster supporters.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: what a biased and blinkered guy you are. The Leinster emergence began with outside players. Next year you have 2: Snyman & Barrett on your books plus the majority of the Irish team. Yet you speak about inequality. The reality is Leinster underachieve relative to what you have available. This is not ROG’s fault. Separately, O Gara has drive and passion mixed with solid rugby nous – the type of blend that gets teams over the line in tight contests when it matters more often than not. Something that needs to be internalised where you sit.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: next season ye have RG, Barrett and Silami, also you can take in the home grown talent of JGP, Henshaw and Lowe.
@munsterman: La Rochelle budget is 22/23 season was 31 million euros
Even in the 2016/17 season an Irish independent article states that the top 14 wages were over 300 million not including the national team. Roughly 10 times what irfu pay out. Talking out of your hole as usual Munsterman.
@munsterman: did he? Really?
@munsterman: horseshit
Ah man , was like like a soap opera. The drama, the intrigue. Both LR props pure headbangers, ROG biting nails on the sideline ..la Rochelle physical as f..loved that scrap even with 13 men..Toulouse worthy winners onwards to the double
winning 2 cups in succession for a club with no history with most of the players that nobody heard of a year before he took over consistently getting close in France that the best one I’ve heard yet in the sour grapes category
Atonio finally got the red card he’s been looking so hard for for the last couple of years.
Compliment the last 2 paragraphs by telling us which year they didn’t win and maybe mention who they are playing or could be playing in the final, thanks
Idiotic by Wardi. Sad to see Cyril Baille pick up what looked to be a bad knee injury. One of my favourite players. LR are LR but Toulouse play some wonderful stuff at times.
Players do what they’re coached to do. La Rochelle’s discipline, which was always borderline. Has been a constant issue this season. If ROG had a problem with that, it would have changed. You reap what you sow. Stupid thing is, La Rochelle were probably the better team for large parts of the game. They couldn’t get over themselves and the shitty discipline though.