Players need to 'look in mirror' says O'Gara after La Rochelle slip to fourth consecutive defeat

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara called his team losers after their loss to Lyon. Pic: Billy Stickland/Inpho

La Rochelle players ‘need to look in the mirror’ a disconsolate Ronan O’Gara said after his side slipped to 10th in the Top 14 table on the back of a 24-44 defeat at home to 12th-placed Lyon on the final domestic weekend before the Six Nations break.

“The top six? We're nowhere near the top six. We’re losers,” he told journalists on the back of La Rochelle’s fourth defeat in a row and their eighth in 11 games in as many weeks after the November break. “Many people in the city and the region are living in the past.

“We need to look in the mirror and accept where we are.” And he bleakly suggested that fans needed to look down the table rather than up.

“Luckily, there's Montauban and Perpignan [in the bottom two]. It really hurts, today.

“Everyone has a responsibility to help the team, and we have real supporters here. But I hope they won't be too happy if they bump into the guys tomorrow, because we don't deserve anything.

“Am I perfect? Far from it. Did I play a bad game? I think so. But there are things that can be avoided with a minimum of preparation, precision, and intelligence..."

At the end of a tough and emotional few days, disrupted by Wednesday morning’s shocking news of Uini Atonio’s heart attack, Rochelais’ heads weren’t in the game in the opening period at Stade Marcel Deflandre, on an afternoon everyone expected a high-intensity performance for Uini.

Hooker Quentin Lespiaucq, in particular, will have nightmares about his quick lineout straight to Lyon’s Sam Simmonds, who ran unopposed to the line for the visitors’ second try.

The first had come when Gabin Lorre found a wide chink in the hosts’ defensive armour to score in the third minute of the game, just as the crowd began a minute’s applause in support of club hero Atonio — a tribute repeated at Top 14 matches across the country.

The visitors scored twice more to take the score to 31-0, before Davit Niniashvili got La Rochelle on the scoreboard on the stroke of halftime.

It was a performance that prompted a downbeat Adrien Seguret to tell Canal Plus at the break: “Everything is missing. There’s not much to say.” But whatever O’Gara told his side in the dressing room galvanised them briefly.

They scored twice in the first five minutes after the break through Judicael Cancoriet and UJ Seuteni, and again just before the hour — Jack Nowell, this time — to drag themselves to within a score.

A Martin Meliande penalty and Jiuta Wainiqolo’s 80m highlight reel try seven minutes from time stopped the home side’s fightback in its tracks.

As O’Gara said later, “We started playing too late to have any hope of winning.

“We lacked precision and gave away real gifts,” O’Gara said. “You need to be at a certain level to win in the Top 14, and for 35 minutes in the first half, we weren't at that level.

“It’s pretty easy to understand why I’m the manager of the losing team tonight.” 

A try, a decisive late assist, two conversions and a penalty for second-half replacement Jeremy Fernandez made the difference for Castres, as they doubled down on last Saturday’s Top 14 win at Bayonne with a hard-fought 28-23 victory over Clermont at a rainy Stade Pierre Fabre.

Stade Francais, however, could not repeat their on-the-road heroics at Bordeaux last weekend, slipping to a thumping 44-7 loss at Montpellier.

Racing 92’s scrum-half Leo Carbonneau ripped the ball out of the hands of Posolo Tuilagi, as the international second row crashed over the line with the clock in the red to deny Perpignan victory at the end of a thrilling eight-try three-yellow, one-red 37-31 encounter at La Defense Arena.

The short break after 11 consecutive weeks of Top 14 and Champions Cup rugby has come just at the right time for Bordeaux, after Damian Penaud limped off with a knee injury midway through the second half of their journeyman 16-31 bonus-point victory at bottom-of-the-table Montauban.

Even without a dozen players retained by Fabien Galthie, Toulouse were too much for hapless Bayonne and their under-fire manager Gregory Patat. 

Paul Costes finished off the pick of the tries, a classic of the jeu de Toulousain kind, as the champions won 31-10 Pau’s manager Sebastien Piqueronies wants an immediate reaction from his side, who host Toulon on Sunday night, following their humbling 59-22 loss at Toulouse last weekend. 

“If we get another thrashing and look ridiculous, I’ll look like a clown saying we've learned,” the coach said.

Gregoire Arfeuil and Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang start for the hosts, after being released by Fabien Galthie earlier in the week, while the visitors welcome Gabin Villiere back from injury.