After the crestfallen faces and regrets, place emotions and tears of joy. The heroic Stade Rochelais won the Champions Cup final at the Stade Vélodrome against Leinster on Saturday May 28 (24-21). A first title with a taste of liberation for a group that has experienced its share of disappointments.
Rising up to the Top 14 at the end of the 2013-2014 season, Stade Rochelais has gradually built a competitive team that has risen through all the ranks. But before touching the stars, the Maritimes repeatedly hit the glass ceiling of losing finals. Three times in the last three seasons, they have come close to glory. A look back at these encounters that forged the history of this group.
2019: a defeat for a first
Five years after its rise in the elite, La Rochelle is already approaching the peaks of Europe. After a faultless run, the Maritimes qualified for the Challenge Cup final, the first in their history. An achievement for a group still inexperienced at this level of competition, which has never done better than the semi-finals of the championship.
But during the meeting, the Rochelais are outclassed by Clermontois much more accustomed to European games. Overwhelmed, jostled at all levels, they conceded three tries and 36 points to lose (36-16), despite an end to the game in numerical superiority. Under the leadership of Xavier Garbajosa and Jono Gibbes, the Ihaia West, Uini Atonio, Arthur Retière, and others Romain Sazy or Grégory Alldritt were in the game, the first two scoring all the points for their team. Insufficient to win. The apprenticeship is far from over.
2021: double final, double disappointment
After a season truncated by the Covid-19, 2021 is the year of confirmation of La Rochelle’s ambitions and capacities. Jono Gibbes’ men finish second in the regular season in the Top 14 and continue their journey to the Grand Final. At the same time, they achieve a great epic on the European scene, which leads them there too to the last step.
It is Stade Toulouse, the best team of the moment, which stands twice on the way to La Rochelle. In the Champions Cup final on May 22, the Maritimes were beaten by a narrow margin (22-17), weighed down by a lack of discipline (red card from Botia in the first period). A month later, the reunion at the Stade de France still turns in favor of Hauts-Garonne. The gap is a little wider (18-8), and the Rochelais a little less in shape after an intense season. They continue to gain experience, but the first coronation must still wait.
2022: a historic title finally validated
After these three failures, La Rochelle persevered to finally achieve progress since the ascent. Once again qualified for the Champions Cup final, the Rochelais never let their chance slip away. Lacking in efficiency, punished by the Irish footwork, led until the 78th minute, they nevertheless came close to repeating the mistakes of the past. But this time, experience weighed on their side, to overthrow the ogre of Leinster, who was averaging 49 points per game until then.
⭐ EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS 2022 ⭐ pic.twitter.com/GNBeUQuXTV
— Stade Rochelais (@staderochelais) May 28, 2022
“The club has been waiting for a title for a while. We weren’t favourites, but on the state of mind, it ended up paying off”, said scrum-half Thomas Berjon after the game. La Rochelle validated eight years of meteoric progression on Saturday evening, from ProD2 to European summits. And the illusions lost along the way have undoubtedly helped to build this success.