Leinster defiant in seeing off Champions Cup nemesis La Rochelle

Leinster 40 La Rochelle 13

Revenge at last for Leinster over La Rochelle, their tormentors in this competition over the past three seasons. Winning at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre back in December was nice but this felt like genuine closure for Leo Cullen and his players, crushing La Rochelle with a five-try thrashing. After heartbreaking losses in back-to-back Investec Champions Cup finals, this must have felt cathartic.

Leinster led 23-6 shortly before half-time, a scoreline which left you wondering whether La Rochelle’s extensive travel schedule – they were in Cape Town seven days ago and had spent the week away from home preparing in Cork – combined with Leinster being up by 17 points on their own patch all meant the contest was already done.

A spell of La Rochelle pressure right before the break, earning a run of penalties, therefore felt match-defining. La Rochelle’s maul delivered, a try finished off by Louis Penverne, and given the way the back-to-back European champions had defended early in the first half, twice holding Leinster up over the line, being 10 points down at half-time suddenly felt surmountable. Leinster were twitchy, understandably so having started fast in last year’s final against La Rochelle, leading 23-14 at half-time in that game before it slipped through their fingers. Now in Dublin it was 23-13.

James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park were Leinster’s first-half try-scorers; Lowe following wave after wave of punishing, physical phases until Ross Byrne shovelled on a pass to put the Ireland wing away. Lowe then turned provider for Gibson-Park, an oddity with Lowe’s pass going backwards but coming off Gibson-Park’s shoulder before the scrum-half regathered it and broke clear. Leinster had the wind at their backs in the first half and had it not been for some careless penalties on restarts at the breakdown, gifting La Rochelle six points, their lead might have been more comfortable.

Yet Leinster’s response right out of the gate in the second half was defiant. What jitters? La Rochelle defensively could not live with the speed of their passing, the combination of a Tadhg Furlong’s pull-back ball and rapid passes from Robbie Henshaw and Jordan Larmour making room for Lowe and Ryan Baird out wide. Baird brushed off Antoine Hastoy’s tackle to score, Leinster hit the 30-point mark with Ross Byrne’s conversion, and they never looked back.

Losing Tawera Kerr-Barlow, La Rochelle’s outstanding scrum-half who was stretchered off after a long stoppage, was not going to help the visitors’ cause, a Dan Sheehan try followed by Lowe adding a second turning the gap on the scoreboard into a chasm as La Rochelle understandably wilted.

La Rochelle’s great run as champions of Europe is over. There will be no third title in a row for this outstanding side featuring fantastic players in Levani Botia, Kerr-Barlow, Gregory Alldritt, Uini Atonio and Jonathan Danty. For Leinster, it marks the end of the hoodoo. A date with the winner of Northampton and the Bulls in the semi-final awaits at Croke Park, and the hopes of a fifth European title live on.

Match details

Scoring sequence: 3-0 R Byrne pen, 8-0 Lowe try, 10-0 R Byrne con, 10-3 Hastoy pen, 13-3 R Byrne pen, 13-6 Hastoy pen, 16-6 R Byrne pen, 21-6 Gibson-Park try, 23-6 R Byrne con, 23-11 Penverne try, 23-13 Hastoy con, 28-13 Baird try, 30-13 R Byrne con, 35-13 Sheehan try, 40-13 Lowe try

Leinster: C Frawley; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne (H Byrne 63), J Gibson-Park (L McGrath 72); A Porter (M Miln 58), D Sheehan (R Kelleher 58), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa 58), J McCarthy, J Jenkins (R Molony 51), R Baird, W Connors (J van der Flier 49), C Doris (capt, J Conan 71).

La Rochelle: D Leyds (I West 40); J Nowell, U Seuteni, J Danty, T Thomas; A Hastoy, T Kerr-Barlow (T Iribaren 44); L Penverne (A Kaddouri 53), T Latu (Q Lespiaucq-Brettes 53), U Atonio (J Scalvi 53), U Dillane, W Skelton (T Lavault 66), J Cancoriet (P Boudehent 63), L Botia (Y Tanga 64), G Alldritt (capt).

Referee: K Dickson (ENG)

Attendance: 50,000

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