Top 14: Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle close gap on leaders Toulouse with big win over Bordeaux

The match was played on a difficult pitch at the venue of Ireland’s World Cup opener against Romania in September.

BIG WIN: La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O'Gara

Levani Botia’s close-range touchdown early in the second-half broke the deadlock as Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle closed the gap on Top 14 leaders Toulouse with a muscular 36-6 win over Bordeaux on a difficult pitch at the Matmut Atlantique.

Until Botia picked up the ball close to the line after Gregory Alldritt’s charge from the back of a 5m scrum, there had been little for the 42,000 sell-out crowd to cheer about in the stadium’s final dress rehearsal before Ireland’s World Cup opener against Romania on September 9, other than the fact the pitch was cutting up at scrums.