La Rochelle have broken Leinster's hearts for the past two years in a row. Where do Leinster need to be better this time?
Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster’s side have a bad record to put right in Saturday’s Champions Cup final. Their European dreams have been ended by La Rochelle for the last two years in a row.
The reality is that last year’s final was decided by the slimmest of slim margins, but Leinster will have examined and considered every aspect of it in order to improve. Where do they need to be better this time? La Rochelle are relentless in their bid to break up the opposition’s attacking flow. Like any good team, they’re frustrating to play against around the breakdown.
Below, Johnny Sexton gets momentarily isolated, Alldritt wins the race to the ball with support from Jonathan Danty on his right, absorbing Tadhg Furlong’s clearout attempt as Jamison Gibson-Park struggles to shift Alldritt. For La Rochelle, the mission is to bring more of the same breakdown brilliance as before. They had five breakdown turnovers in their semi-final win over Exeter, when Peyper was also referee, and a whopping 10 breakdown steals against Saracens in the quarter-final.
These days, Leinster are known as a team that is ruthless during yell0w-card windows. In their recent semi-final, Toulouse had two yellow cards and Leinster won those periods 28-0. That’s the clinical edge they need if handed opportunity against La Rochelle again. It felt like time to go for the kill, all the more so given that Leinster’s previous two-score lead of 18-10 hadn’t lasted long. Leinster didn’t score a try in last year’s final and this may have been their best chance.
Another powerful effort from the Top 14 side in last year’s final was key, eating into the aforementioned two-score lead and putting pressure on Leinster as the game ticked into the final quarter.… meaning they’re down bodies in the initial contest, allowing La Rochelle to get into strong shape to shift drive infield and score through hooker Bourgarit.
La Rochelle clearly work hard on their kicking game under O’Gara and they’re good at landing the ball in the five-metre channels as above or with their box kicking, allowing their chase to force errors from the opposition or limit the counter-attacking possibilities. Sexton is unable to beat the chasing Thomas Berjon and offloads to Keenan, who is now under pressure. The Leinster fullback buys some time but Leinster give away a penalty after their retreat as Gibson-Park goes off his feet at the breakdown.
While Leinster have deep faith in their attacking skills and shapes, which have seemingly only improved this season, there will be times when it makes no sense to run at the La Rochelle defence. They have possibly overplayed against the French side on occasion in the past. The example above comes with penalty advantage playing but bravery from Leinster with cross-kicks, short chips, and grubbers could bring great reward.
Below, we see a failed five-metre play in the last year’s final as Gibson-Park’s pass to Sexton goes to ground. While the Irish province did score from close-range in the 2021 semi-final through Tadhg Furlong, La Rochelle will probably feel they have got the better of Leinster when it comes to these exchanges in the trenches. They came up trumps when it mattered most last season.Chop the totems There are few sides who so thrillingly and suddenly create momentum as La Rochelle.
In the instance above, Skelton skittles the first two defenders to generate instant momentum for La Rochelle, who immediately threaten wide on the left on the next phase before being held up over the tryline shortly after. His physical strength is useful on both sides of the ball and he’s a confident decision-maker who is always alert to opportunities close to the ruck or set-piece.
Part of that remarkable passage was a string of scrums that the French side edged, winning a scrum penalty at one point.
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