No frills but full value as La Rochelle make statement on Alldritt's milestone night

The Rochelais picked up eight points out of a maximum 30 during the November and Six Nations’ ‘doublons’ last year, a run that included a large part of their 105-day winless streak between January and April. They missed the play-offs by a point.

Sun, 02 Nov, 2025 - 22:14

James Harrington

Gregory Alldritt marked his 150th La Rochelle appearance with a try as Ronan O’Gara’s partly stripped-down side beat a solid but uninspired Racing 92 33-6 in front of the 109th consecutive sell-out crowd at Stade Marcel Deflandre.

Alldritt’s pick-n-dot at an on-the-line ruck in the 19th minute following a training ground Will Skelton blitz off a 5m lineout won’t go down as a career highlight. But the France backrow will be happy enough with a solid 80-minute performance that had eye-catching flashes of his trademark hard-running, tackle-busting charges.

Antoine Hastoy channelled his inner Alldritt with a tackle-busting run early in the second half to set up a second simple ruck-to-tryline score for winger Davit Niniashvili, as the Rochelais built a workmanlike winning score under Sunday night lights..

And Dillyn Leyds was on hand to take the offload after Jack Nowell had burst through the Racing defence nine minutes from time for the bonus-point score.

The win, no-frills though it was, is gold to the Rochelais given their nightmare struggles during the international periods last season.

The staff claim to have learned from those mistakes, that their squad players — particularly their academy contingent, several of whom were on show against Racing — are better prepared this time. One match does not make a play-off run, but very early indications are cautiously positive. Bigger tests are to come, starting next weekend with the rescheduled trip to Toulon.

Saturday evening’s Clasico at Ernest Wallon started well for visitors Stade Francais, but ended better for hosts Toulouse. Ugo Mola’s side overturned a 10-3 half-time deficit with a 21-point blitz in 21 second-half minutes to claim a 29-17 win.

Clermont and Bordeaux both won on the road. The former picked up their first points of the season away from Stade Marcel Michelin, edging a frustrating arm wrestle at Montpellier 9-7. The latter ramped up the pragmatism at Castres to win 28-26.

Bottom-of-the-table Perpignan picked up their first league point of the campaign, courtesy of a losing bonus in their 27-23 loss at Pau. Montauban were comprehensively outplayed at Bayonne, losing 49-7.

And Toulon made light work of Lyon, winning 54-21 at Stade Mayol. The visitors have lost five of their last six to plunge from first after three matches, to 12th after nine.