Champions Cup preview: La Rochelle v Leinster
Kick-off: Sunday, 4.15pm local time/3.15pm Irish.
Venue: Stade Marcel Deflandre.
On TV: Live on Premier Sports.
And so finally, it’s upon us. Some matches loom on the horizon way more brightly than most. Ever since the fixtures were announced last July, no matchup has stood out for the respective teams, players and supporters of La Rochelle and Leinster quite like this clash.
This competition has sadly done its best to dilute rather than foster rivalries in recent years. But La Rochelle’s trio of wins in a semi-final and two finals, before last season’s Leinster double, make this the biggest Champions Cup rivalry in modern times.
Adding spice on top of those high-stakes clashes is the continuing presence of Ronan O’Gara, and his former Munster team-mate Donnacha Ryan, in the La Rochelle brains trust, as well as the palpable impact of Jacques Nienaber with Leinster.
The backroom teams have had their thinking caps on, as evidenced by two eye-catching selections.
Leinster are locked and almost fully loaded, allowing for the absences Dan Sheahan and James Lowe. Leo Cullen said Lowe will return to training next week but also that Hugo Keenan is a non-playing reserve for this game, effectively meaning Jamie Osborne has been picked above him at fullback, while Ciarán Frawley also misses out.
With Jordan Larmour also ruled out, Tommy O’Brien will make his first Champions Cup start at the age of 26, a fact that is more a reflection of Leinster’s depth and his ill-luck with injuries than his quality. Finally, opportunity knocks.
In a demonstration of that depth, Leinster’s trio of big-name acquisitions, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett, are on the bench so as to accommodate the return of Tadgh Furlong while keeping the Joe McCarthy-James Ryan and Robbie Henshaw-Garry Ringrose partnerships intact.
Furlong makes his first outing since the Croke Park win over Munster in October after suffering hamstring and calf injuries, since when he’s become a father, while Ryan Baird starts ahead of Jack Conan.
As in the festive win away to Munster when brought on after 21 minutes in a pre-designed move, Andrew Porter has again been named among the replacements, and it’s doubtful that the province has ever picked a stronger bench.
La Rochelle have been denied the injured Will Skelton, Jonathan Danty, Raymond Rhule and hooker Pierre Bourgarit. Those absences have been compounded by Australian hooker Tolu Latu’s suspension, not to mention Teddy Thomas’s four-match ban.
Still, O’Gara has named many of the big-game hunters who have downed Leinster before while naming a 7-1 bench with power aplenty in Georges-Henri Colombe, Ultan Dillane, Levani Botia and Judicael Cancoriet.
La Rochelle have looked increasingly battle-weary in the last season and a half after consistently competing on both fronts to reach five finals in three seasons.
In the last 4½ seasons, La Rochelle have played 156 games, including eight quarter-finals and six semi-finals as well as those five finals. By contrast, over the same period, Leinster have played 117 games, albeit they supply more players to the Ireland team than La Rochelle do to France.
La Rochelle have been to the well many times and treks to Montpellier, or home games against Vannes, don’t rock their boat, nor did the meeting with a third-choice Toulouse last Saturday, when Antoine Hastoy’s penalty with the last kick secured a sheepish win.
Even O’Gara likened it to a defeat, and admitted: “We are suffering, our game is suffering.” That said, O’Gara sounded much more like his old self by Friday on Off The Ball, expressing “full confidence” in his players.
Only three sides have scored fewer points than La Rochelle in the Top 14 this season. Meanwhile, Leinster’s attack is slightly less proficient than last season, scoring on average 28.2 points per game compared with 30.6, but their defence is proving even more miserly, conceding just under 12 points per game as against 19 points last season.
Such has been their greater emphasis on defence under the influence of Nienaber that O’Gara ventured that he was not sure whether Leinster now prefer to have the ball or be without it.
Leinster’s 16-9 win on the opening Sunday last season in the Stade Deflandre was critical in them securing the carrot of home ties all the way through to the final for the second successive year, while ultimately condemning La Rochelle to a quarter-final defeat in the Aviva after treks to Cape Town and Cork.
Another stifling win would do nicely and this fixture appears to have come at a good time. But if anybody can have La Rochelle primed for a one-off game against Leinster, it is O’Gara. But a La Rochelle pack without Skelton is a different proposition from one with the Australian lock, and ditto their backs without Danty as a reference point.
Last season’s deserved double must have exorcised some Leinster demons and they are a defensively steelier side this season. The multiphase attack is still nothing like it was but Prendergast’s emergence has given them another dimension, albeit this is another test of his so-far impressive composure.
And then, of course, there’s Snyman and Barrett. Leinster fans will always wonder what might have been if they had players such as those two to call off the bench in those last three finals. Their impact here might well reinforce those thoughts.
Stade Rochelais: Brice Dulin, Jack Nowell, UJ Seuteni, Jules Favre, Dillyn Leyds; Antoine Hastoy, Tawera Kerr-Barlow; Reda Wardi, Quentin Lespiaucq, Uini Atonio, Thomas Lavault, Kane Douglas, Paul Boudehent, Oscar Jegou, Grégory Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: Nikoloz Sutidze, Alexandre Kaddouri, Georges-Henri Colombe, Ultan Dillane, Levani Botia, Judicael Cancoriet, Matthias Haddad, Hoani Bosmorin.
Leinster: Jamie Osborne; Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Cian Healy, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (capt).
Replacements: Gus McCarthy, Andrew Porter, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jordie Barrett.
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Geo)
Forecast: Leinster to win.
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