La Rochelle, upset by the very young catchy guard of Toulouse, snatched a laborious victory on a penalty from Antoine Hastoy after the siren (22-19), Saturday evening, far from its planned objective during this first day of the phase back.
On paper, it was the poster for this 14th day, revenge for a semi-final from the previous year, certainly poorly placed in the overloaded calendar.
It was also an a priori truncated shock which was to celebrate the 100th consecutive sellout at the Marcel-Deflandre stadium with a dancing and light show.
The title holder had warned for weeks that he was prioritizing his trip to the South African Sharks next week in the Champions Cup, thus leaving almost all of his executives at home.
But Toulouse has reserves, its titles among young people also attest to this, and it proved it by proposing an opposition which fought until the last minute for victory.
Cyril Baille, captain for his return after six months of absence due to a fractured fibula, seemed like a great sage around this pack aged under 24, determined and unapologetic in standing up to the laborious Rochelais, without genius, and frustrated by the referee of Luc Ramos.
The short setback conceded by the Haut-Garonnais made them lose the head of the ranking, to the benefit of Bordeaux-Bègles, ruthless at the Stade Français (46-19), but satisfaction will prevail for this group of kids.
Drop of old veteran
La Rochelle scrum half Tawera Kerr-Barlow blocked by Toulouse Ange Capuozzo, in La Rochelle, January 4, 2025 / XAVIER LEOTY / AFP
If this success allows the Maritimes to climb to 5th place, there is no doubt that the public expected something else.
However, with an omnipresent and decisive Osacar Jegou – a counter followed by an acrobatic pass on Tolu Latu’s try (19) and a try (38) – the Rochelais struggled to take the measure of Toulouse who were content with the points at the foot of Valentin Delpy (12-9 at the break).
Returning from the locker room, Grégory Alldritt’s teammates raised their voice, the visitors gave in, without giving in before the hour mark on a personal initiative from Tawera Kerr-Barlow 5 meters away to relieve the tense spectators (19-9 ).
The offensive bonus remained in the pocket of the locals for the space of eight minutes, the time for the visitors, then cornered by an excellent Angel Capuozzo behind his scrum, to finally leave their camp, and rather well.
Following their first real initiative of the second act, Julien Marchand’s next penalty hit the mark and Sialevailea Tolofua finished in the goal (70th).
Better, a breakthrough from Nelson Epée led three minutes from time to a drop from an old veteran from Delpy, 19, putting the two sides on an equal footing.
La Rochelle then pushed to keep up appearances and pocket more than the two points from the draw. The Rochelais obtained a penalty and chose to take the points with the boot of Antoine Hastoy rather than going into touch with the hope of scoring a 4th try synonymous with an offensive bonus.
