'What the tournament needs' - Leinster amped for latest chapter with La Rochelle

THANKFULLY, THIS ONE has seen Stade Rochelais arrive in Dublin with as close to a full-strength team as injuries have allowed.

Was it ever going to be otherwise, given Ronan O’Gara and his side’s history with Leinster?

The hosts have been shorn of some key men of their own, but this evening’s clash at the Aviva Stadium [KO 5.30pm, Premier Sports] certainly excites.

Leo Cullen’s men have won their last three meetings with La Rochelle, including a quarter-final thumping of the Top 14 side in 2024, yet the memory of losing the 2022 and 2023 Champions Cup finals are still clear.

Bring on the latest chapter.

O’Gara is without excellent players like France flanker Paul Boudehent, centres Jonathan Danty and Ulupano Seuteni, and hooker Pierre Bourgarit, but Leinster have lost James Lowe and a whole crop of front rowers in Andrew Porter, Tadhg Furlong, Jack Boyle, and Rabah Slimani, while Garry Ringrose, RG Snyman, Ryan Baird, Jamie Osborne, and Hugo Keenan remain sidelined.

Yet the quality of the players who will be on show in Dublin stands out more.

“They have a huge amount of quality in their group and if you put our lads beside them, it would be similar,” said Leinster boss Leo Cullen.

“Both teams are missing players, but that’s to be expected for every team at this time of year, because it’s a challenging time of year, there’s big games after big games.

“And that’s what I think the public wants to see – two teams going at it. I believe there’s a good crowd of La Rochelle fans in town already, which is what the tournament needs as well, isn’t it? Two teams going at it for all the right reasons.”

The two most obvious new faces in this rivalry are La Rochelle’s big summer signings, classy France scrum-half Nolann le Garrec and dashing Georgian wing Davit Niniashvili, both of whom have looked increasingly at home in O’Gara’s team in recent times.

Advertisement

As Cullen pointed out, Le Garrec is a different player from the previous scrum-half incumbent, Tawera Kerr Barlow, whose defence was exceptional. Le Garrec has a delivish attacking skillset and smart kicking game.

Niniashvili, best known as a fullback, is fiendishly hard to tackle and he’s a tough competitor too.

But Cullen is more concerned about what La Rochelle will bring up front. With his prop stocks severely tested – Jerry Cahir and Andrew Sparrow are in line for Champions Cup debuts as they back up starting props Paddy McCarthy and Thomas Clarkson – the scrum will be one obvious worry. Matthew Carley, today’s referee, was the man in charge when Ireland’s scrum was dismantled by South Africa in November, so Leinster will hope to be much more solid.

They know there’s a big test coming up front from Will Skelton, Uini Atonio and co.

“I think they will go back to type, which is around lineout drive in particular,” said Cullen.

“That’s where they will try to take us on again. Defensively, they’d be very aggressive at the ball with some of the players that they have there: Botia, Jegou, Alldritt. So I’m just making sure that we deal with some of those threats that they have.”

Leinster have an exciting fresh face of their own in the backline, with 22-year-old wing JJ Kenny rewarded for his strong form out wide with a start in place of the injured Lowe.

The former Ireland 7s international initially came in on trial during pre-season and has scored six tries in five games so far in the URC. Now, he’s being asked to step up another level against La Rochelle.

“He’s been a revelation, really,” said Cullen, who praised Kenny’s diligent preparation off the pitch.

“If you watch his ball carry specifically, his change-up into contact, he really explodes through contact, which makes him a proper handful  and he fully deserves to get picked.”

Kenny’s exuberance and sheer speed in attack are attributes that Leinster want to demonstrate collectively.

Last weekend, they ran in eight tries against Connacht in the URC and were clearly enjoying themselves. Dan Sheehan later said that the Leinster players had been keen to play “good Leinster rugby of old” and pick out space to attack, rather than kicking for the sake of kicking.

While Cullen is anticipating something of an arm wrestle against La Rochelle, he insisted that Leinster always want to give their fans that exciting type of attacking rugby when they can.

“I think we always want to play exciting attacking rugby, but in certain games it isn’t always allowed,” said Cullen.

“That’s what we want to be like always. That hasn’t changed.

“It depends on how the game plays out. So that’s the bit about all-court type games, being able to shift how you play. Because in the perfect world, you go out and play.” 

Leinster fans know this isn’t a perfect world, so while they’ll be hoping for a slick, fluid, clinical performance from their team, winning is the key priority.

Having already beaten Harlequins and Leicester, victory here would greatly enhance their chances of earning a top seeding for the knock-out stages. Leinster are favourites on home soil against a La Rochelle team who have been up and down this season, but O’Gara’s men will be looking to make their lives very difficult indeed.

LEINSTER: Ciarán Frawley; Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Robbie Henshaw, Joshua Kenny; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Paddy McCarthy, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (captain).

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jerry Cahir, Andrew Sparrow, Diarmuid Mangan, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Andrew Osborne.

STADE ROCHELAIS: Dillyn Leyds; Jack Nowell, Jules Favre, Simeli Daunivucu, Davit Niniashvili; Ihaia West, Nolann le Garrec; Reda Wardi, Tolu Latu, Uini Atonio; Charles Kante Samba, Will Skelton; Oscar Jegou, Levani Botia, Grégory Alldritt (captain).

Replacements: Quentin Lespiaucq, Louis Penverne, Aleksandre Kuntelia, Kane Douglas, Kirill Fraindt, Thomas Berjon, Antoine Hastoy, Nathan Bollengier.

Referee: Matthew Carley [RFU].