Whilst La Rochelle have undeniably been one of France’s strongest clubs in recent years, their record in the Top 14 has actually not been that impressive, with them reaching the play-off final in 2021 and 2023 but never managing to get their hands on the league trophy.
However, what has also been apparent about Ronan O’Gara’s side is that this has never once bothered them, because they know and their fans know that where they are truly a force to be reckoned with is in continental competition, with them appearing in three of the last four European Champions Cup finals and lifting the trophy in the last two years.
With that in mind, there are many who see them as the ones to beat and the side most likely to lift it this year too, but anyone who has watched their European outings will attest to the fact that they have not been at their most fluent this season. Instead, there have been moments when they have lacked the same quality around the field, and none of their performances so far has been entirely convincing.
Therefore, though they might be seen as frontrunners in the eyes of many, they are not entirely invincible at this moment in time, and this short tactical analysis will take a closer look at some of the areas in which they have appeared vulnerable and why many have managed to break them down with relative ease.
One key reason behind their poor play at times has been their continuous desire to come out whenever they are on the defensive and to apply pressure on their opponents.
In itself, it is not a bad thing for any team to have in their tactics, with it removing time from opponents and therefore increasing the chance of an error being committed, but only when it works to perfection and players don’t move out of line too early.
Unfortunately for La Rochelle, that is where they have often fallen down, with situations like this, when Sale Sharks have looked to shift the ball down the line but have managed to hold onto it here and to run through the gap, increasingly common to see in their matches. In this case, it was former Exeter Chiefs and England utility back Jack Nowell who moved forward too early, and the result was that James was able to carry the ball through before combining with Telusa Veainu to beat full-back Brice Dulin and to score the try.
When they look back at this moment, La Rochelle will know that it could have been easily avoided, and the fact that it is not a one-off, with the Stormers and Leicester Tigers also taking advantage of similar errors to score, shows how it is something that they will need to look at if they are to go on and to win a third consecutive European top tier title.
The other thing that La Rochelle have done at times is to focus too much on one area of the pitch and to ignore other areas, which has led to them leaving key opponents open and giving their opponents chances to break them down.
In this case, they had all tracked over to the far side of the field to guard against the attempt made by Stormers winger Suleiman Hartzenberg to carry the ball over the line, and had then looked to follow the ball back across the field as soon as it had been recycled and sent back towards the middle, with Damian Willemse now looking to punch a hole in the French side’s line.
What should have happened here though is that one player needed to stay a little closer to Hartzenberg in order to limit what he could do here, with him slowly getting to his feet following the tackle and ensuring that he could have another go at scoring a try if his teammates felt that he was a worthwhile option to use. On this occasion, they did, and they were helped by La Rochelle leaving him too open and therefore giving fly-half Manie Libbok time to pick his teammate out and to set up what was in the end a very easy try.
From La Rochelle’s point of view, they will be disappointed at the way that they left Hartzenberg too open and all turned their backs on him, and this is therefore another way in which they have made it easier for opponents to beat them than it should have been.
It is not only tactical things though that have let the defending champions down, with it also clear to see that they have lacked discipline in virtually all of their matches, which has again led to them shipping easy points and making life a lot harder for themselves than it has needed to be.
What has been particularly frustrating is that those penalties have been awarded for very basic things, like here when lock Will Skelton put his hands into the ruck in order to retrieve the ball before the Stormers can, directly in the eyeline of the referee. Therefore, he has made their decision easy, and it is not the only time that his individual discipline has let them down.
It would be wrong to say that he is the only one giving away easy penalties though, with plenty on the team guilty of doing so, and it is clear that lacking that ability to stay on the right side of the law is costing them territory at times and is making games a lot more nervy than they should be.
It should also be pointed out that, whilst this scout report has focused on the negative aspects of La Rochelle’s European performances this season, they are doing a lot well too, with there still being plenty of the La Rochelle of the last two years to admire about them and the fact that they have made it to the quarter-final stage, playing well or not, is a positive in itself.
However, even the most ardent of fans will admit that they do need to be better overall if they are to secure a third-straight Champions Cup title, because there are still some very good sides left in the draw who will exploit the weaknesses highlighted in this analysis. It is by no means a done deal that they will be the ones to lift the trophy into the sky at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the end of May, and there is still a long way and a lot of work to do between now and then.