Stunning La Rochelle comeback defies Leinster again in Champions Cup thriller
TO THE VICTORS: La Rochelle lift the Heineken Champions Cup. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
Leinster’s dream home final ended in desperate disappointment on Saturday as Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle claimed back-to-back Heineken Champions Cup titles at their expense with another late smash-and-grab .
A 71st-minute try from replacement prop Georges-Henri Colombe, converted by Antoine Hastoy, broke Leinster hearts at a sold-out Aviva Stadium to complete a remarkable comeback having trailed 17-0 after just 12 minutes as Leo Cullen’s side ran in three quickfire tries in an explosive opening quarter, hooker Dan Sheehan scoring twice either side of a Jimmy O’Brien touchdown.
Yet the defending champions from France steadily ate into the deficit, centres Jonathan Danty and UJ Seuteni scoring before half-time with Colombe’s converted try supplying the killer blow to transform a 26-20 scoreline into a 27-26 lead. Leinster finished the game with 13 men as replacement front rowers Ronan Kelleher and Michael Ala’alatoa received yellow and red cards respectively in the last eight minutes.
It marked the second time in as many Saturdays that Leinster had lost a knockout game at Aviva Stadium having fallen prey to a Jack Crowley drop goal that saw Munster edge their BKT URC semi-final seven days earlier. This late comeback from La Rochelle had painful parallels with the 2022 Champions Cup final in Marseille when Arthur Retiere’s converted 80th-minute try had consigned the Irish province to a 24-21 defeat.
Leinster had constructed a dream start in front of their home supporters, with three tries in the opening 12 minutes of a ferociously contested and breathless first half.
They had scored inside the first 45 seconds as Brice Dulin cleared Ross Byrne’s deep kick-off to his left touchline. The Leinster lineout was magnificently deceptive, No.8 Jack Conan stealing between the two lifting pods to collect Sheehan’s throw into the vacuum and then passing back to his hooker to score what looked like the simplest of tries, converted by Byrne.
The second came from another piece of Leinster magic, left wing James Lowe nailing a 50-22 kick to the left corner soon after the restart, the resulting attacking lineout producing a scrum from which the home side launched another clinical attack inside the La Rochelle 22. Jamison Gibson-Park passed from the back of a ruck to Bryne who found Jimmy O’Brien with a long pass for the right wing to fly over on six minutes.
Byrne’s conversion from close to the right touchline struck the far upright but Leinster were in rampant form, aggressive, abrasive and maintaining the high tempo which so many teams find so difficult to deal with.
Things got worse for O’Gara’s side when scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow was yellow carded for not retreating 10 metres as he tackled opposite number Gibson-Park after taking a quick tap penalty in the 10th minute and Leinster struck from the penalty that followed. Byrne kicked to the corner and though the lineout was far from efficient, Tadhg Furlong came up with the ball and went into contact, Gibson-Park scooping a huge pass back out to the right wing where Sheehan gathered for his second try of the first quarter.
Again Byrne’s wide-out conversion struck the far post but Leinster were flying at 17-0 with 12 minutes gone, La Rochelle having been unable to lay a glove on Cullen’s side.
Their time would come. With Kerr Barlow still sin-binned and full-back Dulin his side’s acting scrum-half, La Rochelle managed to gain some traction at last and they struck off a five-metre scrum after Lowe had knocked on a poor pass from Gibson-Park to his bootlaces.
Centre Danty received the ball at the set-piece, rampaged through a Garry Ringrose tackle and scored close to the posts to put La Rochelle on the scoreboard in the 19th minute, Antoine Hastoy converting as Leinster asked unsuccessfully for referee Jaco Peyper to check crossing between Danty and centre partner Seuteni.
Back-to-back penalties from Byrne restored some wiggle room for Leinster but it did not last long as Seuteni finished a long period of multi-phase pressure with a try just before the break, Hastoy’s conversion keeping La Rochelle in the hunt at 23-14 as half-time arrived.
Leinster had lost captain James Ryan to a Head Injury Assessment on 30 minutes and the lock did not return as the second half resumed with all the physical intensity of the first period, albeit without the try-scoring fireworks.
Hastoy kicked two penalties either side of a Byrne three pointer inside the first 10 minutes to leave Leinster with a 26-20 lead they took into the final quarter as the noise levels somehow rose even higher and the teams slugged it out like prizefighters, every small victory for the Irish province greeted with a huge roar from majority of the 51,711 sell-out crowd.
Yet it was La Rochelle who were applying the pressure, Leinster hanging on and defending for their lives on their tryline and eventually it told, replacement prop Georges-Henri Colombe powering over on 71 minutes, newly arrived hooker Ronan Kelleher yellow careded for his efforts and Hastoy’s conversion sending the French club in front for the first time in the game at 27-26 with eight minutes remaining the travelling supporters finally heard above the din.
There was another twist when Dany was yellow carded on 74 minutes for a high tackle on Caelan Doris, giving Leinster access into the La Rochelle 22 after a very long absence. From the lineout, Cullen’s men went patiently through the phases, punctured by a huge carry from replacement centre Charlie Ngatai that took his side to the line. The assault was interrupted when Colombe went down with a serious-looking injury on his five-metre line after to contact to his head from a Michael Ala’alatoa ruck clearout with the clock past 78 minutes, Peyper having little choice but to issue to a red card to the Leinster replacement tighthead as his opposite number was lifted onto a stretcher cart.
Leinster had lost possession and a second player in the space of six minutes and La Rochelle suddenly had less than two minutes to see out the victory against 13 men. They did with trademark power, mauling their opponents over halfway as the clock finally ticked past the 80-minute mark, their players celebrating wildly as the ball was hoofed into touch, their Leinster adversaries left to ponder another title that had slipped from their grasp.
H Keenan; J O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw (C Ngatai, 61), J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park (L McGrath, 78); A Porter (C Healy, 78), D Sheehan (R Kelleher, 68), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa, 44); R Molony, J Ryan – captain (J Jenkins, 30 - HIA); C Doris, J van der Flier, J Conan (R Baird, 59).
Kelleher 72 Ala’alatoa 78 C Frawley.
B Dulin; D Leyds, U Seuteni, J Danty, R Rhule; A Hastoy, T Kerr-Barlow; R Wardi (J Sclavi, 59), P Bougarit (Q Lespiaucq, 65), U Atonio (G-H Colombe, 59); R Sazy (T Lavault, 50), W Skelton; P Boudehent (U Dillane, 65), L Botia (R Bourdeau, 69), G Alldritt – captain.
Kerr-Barlow 10-20 T Berjon, J Favre.
J Peyper (South Africa)
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