Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle run riot ahead of Stade Francais showdown

La Rochelle move up to fifth. Though many of their rivals for the play-off places play on Sunday

La Rochelle scored 11 tries against Montauban, including two in the first half for Nolann Le Garrec. Pic: Matthieu RONDEL / AFP via Getty Images)

Jules Favre scored a second-half hat-trick as Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle bagged a fifth Top 14 win in a row and claimed five crucial league points with an 11-try 71-15 win at already relegated Montauban.

Saturday afternoon’s result may have been close to a foregone conclusion – the league’s basement side have won just once this season, and have shipped a record 1,278 points in 25 matches – but La Rochelle have plenty to work on for next Saturday’s all-or-nothing final regular-season round match at home against high-flying Stade Francais.

“We could have made the match a bit easier for ourselves,” attack coach Sébastien Boboul said. “We got a bit complacent. What we feared before the match started happened in the first half.” 

Despite a first-half double from Nolann Le Garrec, Montauban headed into the break just 19-10 down, with the visitors guilty of overcomplicating their game.

“It wasn’t all bad – we still scored 70, and the job is done,” Boboul insisted. “The next step is to focus on the next match. We’ll debrief on Monday and properly prepare for a ‘round-of-16 match’ against Stade Francais.” 

It wasn’t until Montauban second-row Tyrone Vi’iga was sent off for a high tackle that La Rochelle really started to pull away, scoring seven of their 11 tries in 30 second-half minutes while enjoying a numerical advantage.

The result provisionally moves La Rochelle up to fifth in the table, something that seemed a fever dream not so very long ago.

With the weekend’s regular Top 14 schedule rearranged to avoid a clash with the Champions League final in Budapest, however, their key rivals for a post-season play-off – sixth-placed Bordeaux, seventh-placed Clermont and Racing 92 in eighth – all play on Sunday.

The back-to-back Champions Cup winners are at Toulon in the afternoon, while Christophe Urios’s Jaunards host the ciel-et-blanc at Stade Marcel Michelin in the primetime match. Just three league points separate the four sides.

On Saturday, Toulouse – unused to the accusations of inconsistency that have plagued them in recent weeks – ensured they would finish the regular season in first place with a not-entirely convincing 39-31 victory over Lyon at Stade Ernest Wallon.

Paul Gustard’s Stade Francais picked up five points in the race for the second automatic semi-final spot with a routine 38-21 win over Bayonne at Stade Jean Bouin.

But Montpellier – in Saturday’s final match – staked a claim of their own with a 26-18 win over Pau at the end of an intense, defence-heavy encounter at the Septeo Stadium. Stuart Hogg, in his first outing since January, scored the decisive try three minutes from time.

Former Castres legend Benjamin Urdapilleta converted Alivereti Duguivalu’s 80th-minute try to hand Perpignan a morale-boosting 29-27 win in their final home match of the season. The Catalans head to Bayonne next Saturday, and will travel to the home ground of the loser of the ProD2 final between Vannes and Provence for a promotion-relegation decider on June 14.