The team triumphed over Saracens, advancing to the semi-finals, where they will face Exeter. With Toulouse, there will be two French teams in the last four.
By IM with AFP
© ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP
Published on
Subscriber-only audio playback
La Rochelle did not shake during the quarter-final of the Champions Cup which opposed them to the English of Saracens on Sunday April 9th. A week after their big scare against Gloucester, the team easily took the advantage over the helpless Premiership leaders (24-10).
In the semi-finals in three weeks, Ronan O’Gara’s players will continue their English triptych with Exeter, in Bordeaux, in a duel between the defending champion and the winner of the truncated 2020 event. -final will oppose, like last year, Leinster to Toulouse, who easily disposed of the South African Sharks on Saturday (54-20).
Botia voted man of the match
As expected, this quarter was less lively than the previous three with only three tries scored and defenses up to the event, especially that of La Rochelle. He confirmed the preponderance of Levani Botia. Beyond the ground fight, the Fijian, elected man of the match, brought his share in the game with several devastating charges, before this crossing at the hour of play followed by a service with small onions for the double of Tawera Kerr-Barlow, synonymous with a real break (21-3).
As expected, the home power did damage on every impact, with the only Maro Itoje able to respond to it over the length. Antoine Hastoy, 5 out of 7 against the poles, improved the score, as did Kerr-Barlow who chose an oblique run to reward his team’s first highlight (16-3, 34).
A yellow card for Brice Dulin
And the English in all this? Aside from the scrum, they showed weakness in the majority of sectors and, of the five times they got really close to the line, they only breached it once through the incoming Eroni Mawi (21-10 , 62). The others, whether on the ball carried following penalties or on scrum, were locked out, like Nick Tompkins (52), or could not flatten after having nevertheless reached the promised land (74, 75) while they evolved in numerical superiority (yellow card for Brice Dulin).
The sufficiency of the caravel players had been pointed out by O’Gara after the qualification torn off against Gloucester (29-26). This time, the Irish manager will not be able to blame his fighters for much, ready to migrate with their yellow and black people in three weeks to Bordeaux with the aim of inviting themselves to the final for the third time in a row.
Semi-final program (April 29 and 30)
Leinster (Ireland)-Toulouse (France), at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin
La Rochelle (France)-Exeter (England), at the Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux
The final will take place on May 20 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.