O'Gara's La Rochelle face Racing with eager Alldritt out to impress

Alldritt, at one time an early name on Fabien Galthie’s teamsheets, has struggled to maintain his usual consistency in recent months.

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025 - 22:21

James Harrington

France international Gregory Alldritt will be out to impress an audience of one on his 150th professional outing for La Rochelle as they meet Racing 92 in front of a sold-out Stade Marcel Deflandre crowd on Sunday night.

Alldritt, at one time an early name on Fabien Galthie’s teamsheets, has struggled to maintain his usual consistency in recent months. Although he will head back to Marcoussis on Monday, fitness permitting, his name was notably absent from the national coach’s list of ‘protected players’ who were retained at French rugby’s headquarters this weekend ahead of next Saturday’s match against South Africa at Stade de France.

Released back to his club after missing training on Wednesday with neck pain, and named in the starting line-up for Sunday, the backrow will be out to rediscover the tireless, hard-carrying form that has won him 56 international caps since his debut against Wales in February 2019.

Will Skelton, meanwhile, starts for the Rochelais for the first time this season in the second row, as Ronan O’Gara shuffles his squad. Alexandre Kaddouri is the only front row to retain his starting line-up place from the team that beat Lyon at Stade Gerland last Saturday, alongside Quentin Lespiaucq and Karl Sorin.

Thomas Lavault and Lucas Andjisseramatchi join Alldritt, Skelton and Matthias Haddad in a powerful and mobile pack, set up to take on Racing’s rejuvenated forwards even without the retained Paul Boudehent and Oscar Jegou.

Thomas Berjon, meanwhile, makes his second start of the season at nine, with Nolann Le Garrec also remaining at Marcoussis this weekend. Simeli Daunivucu will provide scrum-half cover if needed.

International call-ups and injury absences did not hurt a heavily reshuffled Bordeaux side, who beat Castres 28-26 at Stade Pierre Fabre to record their second away win of the season.

A heavily rotated and strangely off-the-pace Toulouse avoided a first-half Clasico nilling at home against Stade Francais via a Blair Kinghorn penalty with the clock in the red. But — after still-injured Antoine Dupont gave the Ernest Wallon full-house something to cheer by signing a contract extension through to 2031 on the pitch at halftime — the defending champions roared back from 3-10 down at the break to pick up a 29-17 win from a standing start. Only a Leo Barre try a minute from time denied them a fifth bonus-point win at home in five outings.

Five days after parting managerial ways with Franck Azema and two before ex-France attack coach Laurent Labit takes charge at Stade Aime Giral, Perpignan picked up their first league point of the season at the ninth attempt, the 27-23 scoreline at high-flying Pau earning them a losing bonus.

A late Leo Coly try was not enough for Montpellier, who lost an intensely frustrating arm-wrestle of a match against Clermont 7-9 at home. Thomas Vincent hit the post with what would have been a winning penalty two minutes from time.

Bayonne extended their winning run at home to 19 matches as they made light work of promoted Montauban at Stade Jean Dauger. Tom Spring and Lucas Martin both ran in first-half doubles as they bagged a bonus-point 49-7 win.

Charles Ollivon celebrated his recall to Les Bleus after recovering from a ruptured ACL by scoring one of Toulon’s eight tries as they emphatically condemned Lyon to a fifth defeat in six with a 54-21 result at Stade Mayol. The visitors scored twice in the closing 10 minutes to add a veneer of respectability to the scoreline.

After this weekend, 12 sides look forward to a break — it’s come at the right time for more than one of them — before the Top 14 resumes in three weeks. But La Rochelle will travel the Mediterranean coast next weekend for a rescheduled match against Toulon, postponed after a violent storm flooded Stade Mayol.