Leinster hold off La Rochelle fightback in breathless Champions Cup clash
CRUCIAL: Leinster's Joe McCarthy celebrates scoring a first half try in Champions Cup against La Rochelle. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Very few teams have sacked La Rochelle’s fortress in recent years. Leinster have now done it twice in 13 months, but this was a brutally tough and absorbing Champions Cup pool tie that could have swung either way.
La Rochelle out-half Antoine Hastoy had a long-range penalty and a drop goal to snatch it by the slimmest of margins in the dying embers of the game, but the first didn’t have the legs and the second was diverted by Josh van der Flier’s arms.
It was that close.
As was the case when Leinster won 16-9 here in December of 2013, this leaves Leo Cullen’s men in pole position to top their pool and claim home advantage through the tournament knockout stages. That’s huge.
For La Rochelle, it might again be the long road for the old dogs but there is nothing to say that these most modern of rivals won't meet again in this year's competition, as was the case last time around.
That Leinster started this one as many people’s favourites spoke for the up and down form of the hosts so far this season, but La Rochelle dominated the first quarter with play that belied all those frustrations and pre-game doubts.
The Top 14 side played sharp and smart. Their tactical kicking was much better than Leinster’s and they were taking the game to them with ball in hand, man of the match Paul Boudehent powering through Robbie Henshaw at one point early on.
Sam Prendergast had two kicks blocked in that spell, one in his own 22, while Jamison Gibson-Park kicked a ball straight into touch after Ryan Baird had finally given the visitors some front foot ball with a trademark break into open field.
Still and all, it was 3-3 through 26 minutes with Hastoy and Prendergast trading penalties and the Leinster defence standing impressively and consistently up to the constant battering on their 22 and end line.
Leo Cullen repeated the tactical trick of bringing Andrew Porter off the bench after 20 minutes while O’Gara lost both of his starting props – Uino Atonio and Remi Wardi – inside that same first-half.
Hastoy did give La Rochelle another lead with a second penalty but it was Leinster who struck the first big blow with an excellently executed strike play off a lineout just inside the La Rochelle half.
Henshaw gave them some ground before Ryan Baird and Jamie Osborne showed brilliant hands in stitching things together and giving Joe McCarthy a free run to the line. Prendergast added the extras and now it was 10-6 to the Blues.
The province had other chances to increase that hurt but Gregory Alldritt pilfered one five-metre lineout, Porter was pinged at a scrum in the La Rochelle half, while another move was ended by a Jack Nowell knock-on.
That last one saw Hastoy pick up the loose ball and run the length of the field before touching down, but the TMO scratched that so the upside to what was a hard-fought first-half was a four-point Leinster lead and a game in the balance.
The next ten minutes were sloppy and scrappy with both teams letting slip good scoring opportunities in the other 22, but Leinster made something of a dash for the line with two Prendergast penalties in the 50th and 54th minutes to lead 16-6.
Leinster were starting to empty that star-studded bench at this stage. RG Snyman, Jack Conan and Rabah Slimani all came on at once. A few minutes later and Ross Byrne and Ciaran Frawley entered and the backline got shuffled around.
Jordie Barrett moved into midfield, Garry Ringrose ended up on the wing and Frawley went to full-back. If the quality had dipped from the first-half then the tension was ratcheting up going into the final quarter.
Hastoy had one penalty come back off a post before another was sent over minutes later. The ten then landed an audacious crossfield kick into Dillyn Leyds’ breadbasket and the South African did superbly from there.
Catching and kicking the ball in almost one motion, Leyds just about got past the flying tackle of Frawley with inches to spare. It was 14-16 now but Hastoy missed a difficult conversion to leave Leinster clinging on to their lead.
Missed opportunities would become a theme here.
Ross Byrne pulled a simple penalty wide left, Jordie Barrett failed with a much more difficult long-range penalty and the home side would have their own ‘what ifs’ as the clocked ticked down and mistakes became ever more costly.
Hastoy – that man again – was central to it all. A penalty from just inside his own half dropped shy and hit a post. Then that drop goal was deflected off course by van der Flier as the game dipped into injury-time.
We knew it would be close, but this close? Breathless stuff.
B Dulin; J Nowell, U Seuteni, J Favres, D Leyds; A Hastoy, T Kerr-Barlow; R Wardi, Q Lespiaucq, U Atonio; T Lavault, K Douglas; P Boudehent, O Jegou, G Alldritt.
GH Colombe-Reazel for Atonio (33); A Kaddouri for Wardi (39); U Dillane for Douglas (45); J Cancoriet for Lavault (47); L Botia for Favre (56); M Haddad for Cancoriet (64); H Bosmorin for Dulin (76); K Dpuglas for Haddad (80).
J Barrett, J Osborne, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J O’Brien, S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; C Healy, R Kelleher, T Furlong, J McCarthy, J Ryan, R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris.
A Porter for Healy (20); RG Snyman for McCarthy, J Conan for Baird and R Slimani for Furlong (all 47); R Byrne for Prendergast and C Frawley for O’Brien (51); L McGrath for Gibson-Park (71); G McCarthy for Kelleher (73).
Nika Amashukeli (GRU).
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