T14 Round-up: Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle 'weren't good enough' in loss to Castres
WEREN'T GOOD ENOUGH: La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
First-time La Rochelle captain Will Skelton admitted his side ‘weren’t good enough’ to win at Castres on their return to Top 14 action a week after the defence of their Champions Cup title ended in Dublin.
“We weren’t clinical at key moments,” Skelton said, after Castres had come from behind to win a wind-affected encounter 25-24, in which the two sides had gone toe-to-toe for 80 nerve-shredding minutes.
“We need to focus on those moments,” Skelton added, “because we lost by a point… We play Toulon next weekend, so we’re going to have to make sure we win matches like this, and implement things that work.
"What we’re doing now isn’t working. We wanted to send a message here, but we weren't good enough.”
O’Gara had rotated his squad for the trip to darkest Tarn. Deprived of the services of Dillyn Leyds and Brice Dulin, Antoine Hastoy moved to fullback, Hugo Reus came in at 10. Teddy Iribaren started in place of the injured Tawera Kerr-Barlow, while Gregory Alldritt, Ultan Dillane, Levani Botia and Uini Atonio were on the bench.
But it was still a formidable La Rochelle squad that took to the pitch at a packed Stade Pierre Fabre to face a side that had not won since February 24.
After a week’s break following their Challenge Cup exit at Gloucester in the round-of-16, Castres, too, wanted to send a message. In a way, they did. But if they had kept their heads, they could have won more easily.
They had tries disallowed in each half for hot-headed errors, and kickers Louis Le Brun and the returning Julien Dumora both missed – tricky conditions notwithstanding – relatively straightforward chances at goal.
The visitors went in at the break 14-13 ahead, thanks to touchdowns from Iribaren and UJ Seuteni. But a late double from leading try-scorer Nathanael Hulleu, either side of a score for the visitors’ Jules Favre, were enough to give Castres the points.
Despite their win, results elsewhere meant Castres dropped to ninth, though they remain firmly in the hunt for the play-offs – just two points off sixth, and three behind La Rochelle, who climbed to a provisional fourth, thanks to their losing bonus point.
O’Gara’s Rochelais’ slipped back to fifth hours later, after Toulon beat a much-changed Toulouse 20-19 in Saturday’s primetime arm-wrestle, in front of a crowd of more than 60,000 at Marseille’s Velodrome, despite playing more than half the match with 14 after lock Brian Alainu'uese was sent off for a high tackle.
The top nine have made something of a break from the bottom five. After leaders Stade Francais and Toulouse, seven sides are fighting it out for four play-off places.
Below them, Bayonne, Clermont, Lyon, and Montpellier are racing to escape the relegation play-off spot. At the bottom, Oyonnax’s faint survival chances are fading fast.
Bayonne-bound backrow Giovanni Habel-Kuffner scored the game-deciding try against his future team-mates in the 81st-minute as Stade Francais came from 24-7 down at halftime to win 28-24.
Perpignan ran in seven tries to pick up a bonus-point 51-20 win over Lyon, and move – like Castres – to within two points of the play-off zone. Perpignan head to Montpellier next weekend, while Castres are at Oyonnax.
Joe Simmonds enjoyed bragging rights over England international brother Sam at Stade du Hameau, as his Pau side beat Montpellier 31-23 to keep the 2022 Top 14 champions stuck firmly in 13th place.
Montpellier’s defeat gives Clermont a chance to put clear water between themselves and the drop, if they can beat a full-fat Bordeaux at Stade Chaban Delmas on Sunday.
Whatever the result, Christophe Urios’s struggling side will be at least four points clear of the relegation play-off place.
Darren Sweetnam and Chris Farrell started for Oyonnax, winless in the Top 14 in 2024, as they lost 43-13 at home to Stuart Lancaster’s Racing 92.
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