Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle pull off remarkable comeback to beat Toulouse

La Rochelle beat Toulouse with a late penalty coming back from a 14-point half-time deficit to claim the victory

La Rochelle beat Toulouse 30-27 in their opening game of the Top 14 season. Pic: XAVIER LEOTY / AFP via Getty Images

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle, roared on by a passionate full-house at Stade Marcel Deflandre, staged a rousing second-half fightback in their opening Top 14 outing of the new season to beat  defending champions
Toulouse 30-27 with the last kick of the game, after being 24-10 down at the break.

There will be better matches this Top 14 season. There will be worse. But few will be played with as much ferocity. The visitors’ Pierre-Louis Barassi limped off with an ankle injury six minutes into the match; Sam Tuifua’s Top 14 debut lasted 14 minutes before he left with an injury; prop Paul Mallez was on, then off, then on and off again because of knocks; Nolann Le Garrec sparked stadium-wide concern as he clutched his knee following a tackle from opposite number Antoine Dupont – and cheers as he stood up to have it strapped before carrying on; hooker Tolu Latu was sent off for a dangerous clearout nine minutes from time.

Having struggled on the ropes in the opening half, the Rochelais upped their game in the second. Le Garrec responded quickest to a free-kick decision to get the scoreboard moving in the 54th minute.

Nine minutes later, after replacement prop Louis Penverne had been denied by the width of a boot spotted in slow-motion by a TMO with the sharpest eyes in France, Antoine Hastoy burst over to cut Toulouse’s lead to two. With Le Garrec still feeling his knee, the fly-half converted level – something that had seemed highly unlikely 25 minutes earlier.

Such had been the visitors first-half hold over the game – gold-standard summer signing Tommaso Menoncello, as well as Emmanuel Meafou and Romain Ntamack all scored in the opening 40, prompting O’Gara to dip into his bench earlier than he had planned, replacing prop Alexandre Kuntelia and second rows Thomas Adelaide and Charles Kante Samba – who had scored the first try of the game, moments before Menoncello’s riposte – in the 33rd minute.

Under a return to international-standard substitution rules this season, French sides are permitted eight replacements rather than the 12 they have been used to since 2018.

Despite clearing their bench earlier than planned, and despite Latu’s late red, both sides were still willing to attack – and a penalty for the hosts as the clock ticked into the red was enough. Hastoy, 25m out and over to the right, fired the ball straight through the middle.

A solitary outlier one-way match apart, it was an opening weekend of so-near, so-far close encounters. On Saturday, Clermont boss Christophe Urios had been left to rue his side’s first-up indiscipline after their opening weekend 40-36 loss at Lyon. Penalty after penalty helped the hosts build a 37-10 lead as the clock ticked past the hour, meaning the Jaunards had too steep a hill to climb, despite four tries in the final quarter.

Ben Stevenson’s 75m effort just after the hour kickstarted a late fightback for promoted Vannes at Castres – but, like Clermont, they left their fightback too late. From 29-6 heading into the final quarter, it finished 29-20 in favour of the home side.

Another so-near, so-far fightback at Stade Jean Bouin, where home side Stade Francais ended up hanging on to win 28-26 against Perpignan, having been 28-6 up at the break. It’s worth searching social media for Theo Forner’s highlight reel try.

Two tries for Rayan Rebbadj weren’t quite enough for Toulon to open their Top 14 campaign with a win. But his second, with the clock in the red, ensured a losing bonus at Bayonne in another close match – it ended 27-26.

They may be Challenge Cup holders and Top 14 finalists, but Montpellier have developed an unfortunate habit of losing their first home game of the season. Their 27-19 loss against Pau at Septeo Stadium – Joe Simmonds scored a try, three conversions and two penalties – was their third in as many seasons.

Bordeaux – a side with a point to prove after they missed out on the play-offs last season – raced into a 38-0 first-half lead against Racing 92, despite spending 20 minutes of it with 14 on the pitch after prop Lasha Pkhakadze was shown the first orange card of the season.

Cameron Woki, new signing Tom Willis and Louis Bielle-Biarrey all scored braces as the hosts ran in 10 tries in a 64-5 opening day shellacking – leaving Racing manager Patrice Collazo with plenty to think about ahead of their match at home against Lyon next weekend.