Top 14: O'Gara furious after loss to Lyon - 'It’s a black day for the club, for me'

Ronan O’Gara accused his La Rochelle players of focusing more on property than points

Sat, 17 Feb, 2024 - 22:28

James Harrington

Furious Ronan O’Gara accused his La Rochelle players of focusing more ‘on property in La Rochelle and in the Île de Ré’ rather than training this week, after seeing them give up an 11-point advantage en route to a 28-17 defeat at a Semi Radradra-inspired Lyon.

Backrow Yoan Tanga and hooker Quentin Lespiaucq both scored early tries as the visitors raced into a 14-3 lead in the first quarter. The match, the points, were theirs for the taking, and the top six suddenly looked much closer than it has for a while.

“Lyon were dying in front of us at 14-3, and we could not kill the game,” O’Gara fumed. “It’s serious, but it’s an accurate reflection of what happened in training. I’m not surprised – I’m disappointed.”

The prospect of the play-off places faded quickly when Radradra took the game by the throat soon after Lespiaucq’s touchdown.

The centre beat 11 defenders, was a menace with ball in hand, a wall without it, and reassuringly solid in the air all afternoon. His break, leaving three La Rochelle tacklers in his wake, and offload in the 27th minute gave Baptiste Couilloud all the space he needed for his 49th Top 14 try, to spark Lyon’s revival.

The scrum-half added his 50th eight minutes into the second half to give Fabien Galthie a nudge as the France coach ponders his misfiring halfback situation. And replacement hooker Yanis Charcosset touched down to put the result beyond doubt five minutes from time.

But Lyon, who started the weekend in 12th place, were aided and abetted by the visitors’ wasteful rugby, and indiscipline with and without the ball.

La Rochelle lacked ‘everything’, according to the coach. “Aggressiveness, precision, serenity, ability to see space and execute, desire... It’s a black day for the club, for me,” he said.

“This week, the players were more focused on property in La Rochelle and in the Ile de Ré than at training.”

After losing the services of Castres hooker Gaetan Barlot to injury in the week – Bordeaux’s Maxime Lamothe has been called-up in his place – France coach Galthie’s injury concerns deepened on Saturday, as Racing 92’s tighthead Thomas Laclayat winced off the pitch with a rib injury in the 50th minute of his side’s 44-20 home defeat against struggling Montpellier at La Defense Arena.

It’s a second consecutive loss at home for Stuart Lancaster’s side, and their third Top 14 defeat on the bounce.

Replacement hooker Christopher Tolofua scored the bonus-point try for the visitors three minutes after the hooter, in his first outing for the club following his mid-season switch from Toulon.

And Pau ended a run of four defeats with a 20-10 win at Bordeaux. The visitors raced into a 20-3 first-half lead, then held the wasteful hosts at arms’ length for the remainder of the match.

Veteran scrum-half Rory Kockott, meanwhile, was the catalyst for Stade Francais’ come-from-behind 32-19 bonus-point win over Perpignan at Stade Jean Bouin.

Toulouse’s understudy nine Paul Graou took full advantage of Antoine Dupont’s sevens absence to score four of his side’s nine tries, as they beat five-try Oyonnax 61-34 at Stade Ernest Wallon, to send the visitors to the foot of the table.

Tries from Remi Bourdeau and Guillaume Martocq were enough for Bayonne to record their 26th win in a row at a sold-out Stade Jean Dauger – a 21-13 victory over Clermont.

Canadian backrow Tyler Ardron returns to the Castres starting squad for the first time since New Year’s Eve as they host Toulon at Stade Pierre Fabre on Sunday.