Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle tighten play-off grip with sharp victory over Montpellier

Irish Examiner

18-05-2025

Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle climbed to fifth in the Top 14 with a sharp 47-18 bonus-point win over fellow play-off chasers Montpellier at Stade Marcel Deflandre in the closing match of the Top 14's 24th weekend.
Just two places in the top six remain open – and every side down to Lyon, in 11th, is still in the hunt as the regular season winds down – points in the bag are more important than points in potential. This was La Rochelle's first domestic try-scoring bonus since their win over Stade Francais on November 2.
After Mael Moustin had given the visitors an early lead with a well-taken try, the Rochelais – with O'Gara serving the second week of his touchline and dressing room suspension up in the stadium gods – dominated the rest of the game.
Antoine Hastoy got the home side of the scoreboard moving with a penalty, before wingers Jack Nowell and Dillyn Leyds combined to send the former over the line.
Prop Thierry Paiva then crashed over to finish off a fast and furious spell in which both sides turned over the ball in the visitors' 22. And Hastoy completed the first-half scoring with his second on-the-hooter drop goal in as many matches.
His first gave La Rochelle their third win in a row at Vannes last Saturday. This one put them 15 points ahead – almost, but not quite out of sight.
It wasn't all good news, however, as Uini Atonio did not come out for the second half, but the hosts continued to squeeze Montpellier out of the game. Levani Botia burst through a lineout maul to extend their lead just before the hour; Leyds acrobatically benefited from a Hastoy hack ahead five minutes later.
He thought he had a dramatic second 10 minutes from time, racing clear after a determined defensive set from his forwards — but referee Pierre Brousset ruled it out following a lengthy TMO consultation and instead awarded a penalty try to Montpellier. With the last play of the game, however, Brice Dulin finished off a sweeping move to regain the try-scoring bonus.
On Saturday, Matthieu Jalibert had the pundits purring with a consummate performance for Champions Cup finalists Bordeaux a week ahead of the showpiece against Northampton in Cardiff.
He scored one special try and made two more equally impressive ones as his side came back from 14-0 down against Castres at Stade Chaban Delmas to lead 29-14 at the break. Job done, plaudits assured, he was subbed off shortly after 50 minutes, a bigger job in store next weekend.
Castres pulled back to within five points, and were driving towards the line once more when one handling error too many stopped them short, with the score at 34-29. The win was welcome – important, even, given the play-off stakes – but manager Yannick Bru will be happier his charges have no serious injury concerns.
Challenge Cup finalists Lyon suffered a setback six days before they meet Bath for the title, giving up an early 17-0 lead to lose 31-30 at Stade Francais. The result, Stade's first win since March 22, moved them out of the bottom two.
Perpignan slipped into the relegation play-off spot after their 31-13 loss at Clermont. Meanwhile, bottom side Vannes led 25-12 after half-an-hour at fourth-placed Bayonne. But the hosts roared back in the second period to win 38-32 and guarantee their place in the post-season race for the Brennus.
Toulon fell to a third Top 14 defeat in a row, coming out on the wrong end of a 25-21 scoreline at Pau, as their top-two challenge falters.
Leaders Toulouse, too, slipped to a surprise loss at home, beaten 37-35 by a determined Racing 92, who are back on the fringes of the play-off hunt, something that seemed an impossibility after Stuart Lancaster was removed from his post earlier this year.