'I was locked in a cage upstairs' - Banned O'Gara savours dramatic drop-goal victory

Top 14 round-up: Watching from high in the stands, the La Rochelle coach saw Antoine Hastoy deliver a walk-off win that catapults his side into the top six

Sat, 10 May, 2025 - 22:16

James Harrington

It seemed near-delusional when ‘caged’ Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle were struggling in the teeth of a 105-day winless storm – but, after a third victory in a row, they suddenly find themselves in the top six after an ulcer-inducing 30-29 success at Vannes on an day of high emotions in the Top 14.

This was the type of match the Rochelais would let slip away earlier this year. In truth, it looked like they were about to do it again as they let an early 12-0 lead slip against a tigerish Breton side determined to fight for Top 14 survival to the final second.

Vannes recovered from the twin try strikes of Dillyn Leyds and Paul Boudehent inside eight minutes to lead 16-12 at the turn, courtesy of a touchdown from hooker Theo Beziat and a trio of Maxime Lafage penalties.

Lafage landed another penalty triple in the second half, and a ninth try of the season two minutes from time for remarkable 23-year-old loosehead prop Thomas Moukoro, on loan from Racing 92, looked to have settled the result in the Breton side’s favour, despite second-half scores from the visitors’ Quentin Lespiauq and Jules Favre.

But La Rochelle fly-half Antoine Hastoy wound-up a last-ditch drop shot from 40m out as the hooter sounded. There was nothing the home side’s players could do but hope he’d underhit it as it sailed towards the posts. He hadn’t.

O’Gara – who stayed behind in the team bus during the warm-up and watched the match from high in the stands of Stade de la Rabine after being handed a five-week ban by the FFR for an incident in Toulon in January – described Hastoy’s kick as ‘a great moment of class’.

“We need to look in detail at why we needed a drop-goal when we were 12-0 up,” he told journalists afterwards. “But what’s magnificent, for me, was our character, away against a very good team.

“I was locked in a cage upstairs, but I was able to see how we carried the ball.

“Vannes had a great game plan, they marked us well – and, normally, when a team scores 29 points, you don’t beat them. It was a great moment of class from Antoine Hastoy that saved us at the end.”

He refused to discuss his suspension with reporters at Stade de la Rabine but indicated the club would appeal against the sanction.

It was savagely cruel on Vannes, who had briefly climbed out of the bottom two during the realtime matchday table flux, with their closest relegation rivals Perpignan and Stade Francais locked in an equally tight survival battle at Stade Aime Giral.

It was an afternoon of late decisive kicks – and a day of away wins, as La Rochelle, Pau and Toulouse all won on the road.

One Parisian error too many cost them what would have been a first win in five, as Tomasso Allan punished them from the tee five minutes from time, pushing the Catalans into a 20-18 lead. Stade’s Zack Henry had a later chance to overturn the result, but fired a difficult kick from out wide across the face of the posts.

Lyon lost ground in their own late-season play-off push as they came off second best in an eight-try 27-29 encounter at home against Pau. The Challenge Cup finalists recovered from 10-24 down at the end of the first half to lead with the clock in the red – but a 16th penalty gave the visitors’ Thibault Daubagna a shot at goal. Like Hastoy, unlike Henry, he nailed the kick.

And the result of the match between Racing 92 and Bayonne at La Defense Arena hung on a penalty five minutes after the hooter. The scores were level at 24-24 – courtesy of Xan Mousques’ 75th-minute try for the visitors – when Joris Segonds stepped up to take the kick from 40m out to win it for the Basque side. Like Henry, unlike Daubagna and Hastoy, he missed.

A rotated Toulouse brushed off an early brain injury for Romain Ntamack to run in eight tries in a 16-50 deconstruction of third-placed pretenders Toulon at the Velodrome in Marseille. The try-scoring bonus guarantees the reigning Top 14 champions an automatic semi-final spot, while the ‘home’ side are set to lose Baptiste Serin for at least one match of their run-in after he picked up two first-half yellows.

Champions Cup finalists Bordeaux are taking a heavily rotated side to Montpellier for Sunday’s closing match of a truncated Top 14 weekend as they target a domestic play-off semi-final bye.

A minute’s applause in memory of Castres Olympique winger Josaia Raisuqe, who died in a collision on a level crossing near the club’s training ground on Thursday, preceded all Top 14 and ProD2 matches this weekend.

Castres’ scheduled match this weekend against Clermont has been postponed to the weekend of the Champions Cup final, on May 24. Instead, Stade Pierre Fabre was the venue of a moving tribute attended by players, family and fans on Saturday morning.