La Rochelle started its European adventure with a home defeat against its Leinster rival on Sunday.
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The first day of the Champions Cup continued on European pitches. And she didn’t smile at the French clubs. The three Top 14 teams entered, La Rochelle, Stade Français and Racing 92, were all beaten on Sunday December 10.
La Rochelle loses revenge against Leinster
A remake of the last finale from the first day of the following season is not trivial. And this time, Stade Rochelais had to give up, dominated by Leinster (16-9) in its fortress of Marcel-Deflandre. Less rigorous and less disciplined than usual, in great difficulty in the touchline sector, the Rochelais wasted multiple cartridges, and were not able to find the flash of genius to get ahead, as they did. ‘did in the last final.
Day 1 – Pierre Bourgarit: “We had the weapons to win”
The captain of La Rochelle returns alongside Cédric Beaudou on this narrow defeat against Leinster (9-16), awarding the Rochelais the defensive bonus point. The Blues hooker regrets the result but is already thinking about the future and the trip next weekend to South Africa, in Cape Town, for the second day of the Champions Cup. – ()
The Rochelais suffered their first defeat on the European scene since May 2021 and the final lost against Toulouse, after a series of 16 victories in a row. And they will be expected at the turn for their next meeting, a difficult trip to South Africa, at the Stormers, on Saturday.
Racing 92 dominated by Harlequins
The Racingmen were unable to raise the French record. At the end of a crazy match, the Ile-de-France club was beaten by Harlequins (31-28). Trailing by three lengths, the Racingmen put crazy pressure on the English goal line in the final minutes, but without succeeding in flattening.
Despite a good copy of the Nolann Le Garrec-Antoine Gibert pair at the hinge (three tries out of four and four conversions between them), which had also helped to open the scoring for the Ile-de-France residents, the Racing players did not more successful in getting back in front of the English, carried by a very good Marcus Smith, named player of the match.
The Stade Français passes by
They missed their departure. The Parisians were heavily beaten on the Sale Sharks pitch (28-5) for their first group match, early Sunday afternoon. Despite the boost in confidence born from the victory against Toulouse in the Top 14 a week ago, and all their announced desire to play the Champions Cup to the fullest, Laurent Labit’s players were trapped on the lawn of the leader of the English championship.
Authors of only one try in the first period, at the end of which we had the impression of a match within their reach, the “Pink Soldiers” completely collapsed upon returning from the locker room: three tries conceded, far too many fouls (10 in total), no points scored and not even a bonus in the suitcase. They will already be under pressure for the reception of the Leicester Tigers next weekend at Jean Bouin.