Top 14: 'We're in a negative cycle,' says O'Gara after La Rochelle ship eight tries

Ronan O’Gara's side slipped outside the playoff places after a heavy defeat on the road to Lyon.

Sat, 15 Feb, 2025 - 22:07

James Harrington

Twenty days after losing 45-26 at Toulon Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle fell to a second big Top 14 defeat on the road, shipping eight tries in a 53-17 loss at Lyon to drop out of the play-off places.

O’Gara has repeatedly insisted form matters most at the business end of a campaign. But, time is running out. With 10 matches left in the domestic season, O’Gara’s side – shorn of several players because of Six Nations call-ups and injury – are seventh in the table, closer in league-point terms to 13th-place Racing 92 than third-place Toulon.

While he found academy positives in the loss at Stade Mayol nearly three weeks ago, where a youthful side led until the 52nd minute, there was no such comfort from a stagnant performance at Stade Gerland, where two tries in the closing 10 minutes spared the very worst of their blushes in what was by far the most one-sided Top 14 result of the day.

“We took a good beating today,” O’Gara admitted. “We are in a negative cycle – it happens in rugby and we have to accept it … It is important we hang on and try to get out of this malaise. The last match was interesting. Today, we were too imprecise. We lacked aggression.”

The hosts – who have only lost once, against Connacht, since Karim Ghezal took charge in early December and now sit just one point behind La Rochelle in the table – had a try-scoring bonus in the bag inside half-an-hour, ran in three more inside 15 minutes of the second half, and traded tries with the Rochelais in the dying minutes.

La Rochelle’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day got off to a poor start as planned starters Dillyn Leyds and Matthias Haddad withdrew with illness, prompting a rejig of an already patched-up team. Thomas Lavault moved from the second row to number seven, alongside teenager Lucas Andjisseramatchi, making his first pro start, and Tyreese Leupolu – 21-year-old son of Samoan ex-international Tamato. Kane Douglas moved from the bench to the starting line-up, while Brice Dulin slipped in at 15.

Basement side Vannes kept their survival hopes alive with a second Top 14 win in a row as they ensured Patrice Collazo’s commando survival mission at Racing 92 kicked off with a 25-30 defeat at La Defense Arena, and extended their winless run in the Top 14 to seven matches.

Discipline cost the hosts, again. Ibrahim Diallo’s second-half red card for a dangerous clearout denied the home side what would have been a crucial try, while Donovan Taofifenua’s yellow was their 22nd of the season so far.

The result means Vannes are now just three points adrift of Racing – who slipped to 13th and travel to La Rochelle next weekend – and four behind Stade Francais.

The Parisians escaped from a nine-try thriller against Pau at Stade Jean Bouin with a 39-37 win to climb out of the relegation play-off spot. Sekou Macalou scored in each half, but a much-improved second period saw them come from 10-20 down to claim the win in the closing minutes.

Castres have yet to lose in 2025 – but cut it fine in a ferocious encounter at Perpignan. Fly-half Louis Le Brun landed a penalty in the 75th minute that ensured they headed home from Stade Aime Giral with a 20-20 draw that saw them overtake La Rochelle in the table at the start of a mid-Six Nations three-week block of matches.

The weekend had kicked off with an intense thriller at Stade Jean Dauger, as Bayonne won a momentum-swinging encounter against Bordeaux 36-32 to consolidate fourth place.

Safety issues with the pitch at the GGL Stadium forced Montpellier to move their match against Toulon to Beziers’ Stade Raoul Barrière, where a late Dan Biggar drop goal settled a seven-try encounter 30-38 in favour of the visitors, and moved them, provisionally, to second in the table.

Fabien Galthie has retained eight Toulouse players this fallow Six Nations week, but Ugo Mola has still picked a strong squad – including Dorian Aldegheri, Anthony Jelonch, Joshua Brennan, Santiago Chocobares, Matthis Lebel, Jack Willis and Thibaud Flament for Sunday night’s match at Clermont.

The hosts, meanwhile, have bulked up their pack, with Folau Fainga’a, Giorgi Akhaladze and Peceli Yato all in the starting line-up.