Top 14: O'Gara shuffles pack for season opener against Toulon

The French top-flight season kicked off on Saturday afternoon in Bayonne.

Stade Rochelais head coach Ronan O'Gara. Pic: Gareth Copley, Getty Images

Ronan O’Gara has decided to kick-off La Rochelle’s Top 14 campaign against Toulon on Sunday with Ihaia West at fly-half alongside veteran scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow, rather than French international Antoine Hastoy.

In another selection eyebrow-raiser, Georgian Aleksandre Kuntelia was preferred to another French international, Georges-Henri Colombe, at tighthead, with Uini Atonio – who signed a two-year contract extension recently – out with a calf injury.