Top 14: O'Gara's half-time rollicking pays off as La Rochelle storm to big win over Perpignan

La Rochelle had been clumsy with the ball, and repeatedly battered off it in the opening period. They were guilty, too, of over-ambition – repeatedly preferring in-vain penalty kicks to touch rather than the posts.

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara gestures during the French Top14 rugby union match between La Rochelle and Toulouse at The Marcel-Deflandre Stadium. Pic: XAVIER LEOTY / AFP

A half-time rollicking from Ronan O’Gara gave La Rochelle the shock they needed to recover from a slow start and pick up a bonus-point 31-8 win over bottom-of-the-table Perpignan at Stade Marcel Deflandre.

They had been clumsy with the ball, and repeatedly battered off it in the opening period. They were guilty, too, of over-ambition – repeatedly preferring in-vain penalty kicks to touch rather than the posts.

It was no real surprise they were behind on the scoreboard at the break, 20-year-old Maxime Granell’s 10th minute try and a Gela Aprasidze penalty giving a revamped Catalan side a slender lead.

"It took us 40 minutes to get into the game,” backs coach Remi Tales said afterwards. “Perpignan hurt us in the ruck zones and in contact.

“At half-time, the tone was raised a little to remotivate everyone,” he – probably – understated. “From a match point of view, we’re very satisfied. Given our past, we can’t squander victories. But in terms of content, we’ll look more at the second half."

O’Gara’s newly discovered youth policy paid off. 

Nolann Le Garrec pulled the strings, and Oscar Jegou and Louis Penverne (both 22) scored within two minutes of each other in the third quarter of the match, after Jules Favre (26) had got them into the game inside the opening 20 minutes.

But it took a veteran, 36-year-old Levani Botia, on as a 55th-minute replacement for Judicael Cancoriet, to win the hosts a try-scoring bonus, crashing over with the clock in the red.

Second row Thomas Lavault said: “We lacked energy [in the first half], and as a result we were behind at half-time. We got a dressing down in the changing room, which did us a world of good. Ronan was furious, and rightly so.

“It’s satisfying to have reacted and come away with five points. Last year, in a match like this, I think we were nervy until the 80th minute. That wasn’t the case today.” 

Elsewhere, Lyon’s three-match unbeaten run screeched to a comprehensive halt at Stade du Hameau, where they failed to trouble the tryline in a 40-15 defeat to Pau – who climbed above them in the table.

Bordeaux visited the Ile de France for the second time this season, heading to Stade Francais a fortnight after travelling to Racing 92. For the second time in the capital region, they found themselves on the wrong side of the result, losing 28-7 at Stade Jean Bouin.

Racing, meanwhile, condemned Clermont to their third defeat of the campaign, winning 43-31 at La Defense Arena to claim their third win in a row. Alivereti Raka scored his 100th try for the visitors in a losing cause.

In the week their ProD2 shield was stolen from a local agricultural show, promoted Montauban came within seconds of winning their first Top 14 match since their return. But Wilfried Hounkpatin’s after-the-hooter score gave Montpellier a 22-22 draw at Stade Sapiac.

Toulouse hooker Guillaume Cramont scored a first-half hat-trick and backrow Theo Ntamack and replacement winger Mathis Lebel weighed in with second-half doubles of their total nine tries as they beat Castres 59-12 in Saturday’s prime-time match.

Former Munster centre Antoine Frisch is set for his first outing since January for Toulon, who are at Bayonne on Sunday night. Scotland international Ben White, too, will make his first start, while 43-year-old Ma’a Nonu is on the bench.