Thanks in particular to a try from its captain Grégory Alldritt, La Rochelle got the better of Racing 92 with the offensive bonus (33-6) during the closing match of the 9th day of the Top 14 and passed Toulon before their trip to Stade Mayol next weekend.
La Rochelle no longer stops. Already victorious against Montauban then in Lyon, Ronan O’Gara’s players continued their good series during the reception of Racing 92. A closing match of the 9th day of the Top 14 which started at a slow pace with the two scorers who took center stage. Thus, Antoine Hastoy passed two penalties against only one to his opposite Ugo Seunes to give a short advantage to the Maritimes. Released by Fabien Galthié for this weekend after spending the week with the XV of France in Marcoussis, Grégory Alldritt did not miss the meeting. At the end of an action initiated by a throw into touch five meters away, the La Rochelle captain saw a space free up in a ruck to flatten his team’s first try on the line, transformed by Antoine Hastoy.
In the process, Ugo Seunes missed the target for the Ile-de-France residents but the young Ciel-et-Blanc scorer was able to recover seven minutes from the break. Except that in the meantime, Antoine Hastoy had improved a ground fault from Josua Tuisova. As a result, the ten-point gap between the two teams did not change until it was time to return to the locker room. After a start to the second act which saw La Rochelle confiscate the ball, Patrice Collazo opened his bench with four changes including a renewed first line. Which had no effect on the performance of the Ile-de-France team. Indeed, after barely ten minutes, Davit Niniashvili brought the crowd at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre to their feet. After a breakthrough from Mathias Haddad and a relay from Antoine Hastoy, the Rochelais were caught close to the line. The Georgian winger then followed well to recover the ball and go to queen, bringing his team closer to the offensive bonus.
La Rochelle did not give Racing 92 hope
At the hour mark, the match could have changed due to a mistake from Alexandre Kaddouri. For a delayed tackle on Max Spring, who had just quickly played a free kick, the Maritimes pillar received a yellow card. If the Racingmen then put pressure on the La Rochelle defense, they were too clumsy with a forward giving the ball back to their opponents. Ronan O’Gara then started to throw fresh blood and this allowed his team to finish the match very strongly. A domination against a Racing 92 losing momentum which materialized at the start of the last ten minutes. On a nice combination from his second line, Jack Nowell pierced the Ile-de-France defensive curtain. The English winger was then able to serve on a board Dillyn Leyds, who flattened the Maritimes’ third try at the foot of the posts.
A third achievement which put his team on the path to a five-point victory. Far too disciplined, Patrice Collazo’s players could not hope to save honor with at least one try depriving their opponents of the offensive bonus. On a final penalty, two minutes after the siren, the Rochelais resisted the idea of going for one last try, at the risk of taking a counterattack. Barely coming into play in place of Antoine Hastoy, Diego Jurd added three final points with his foot. Thanks to this great victory (33-6), Racing 92 moved up to sixth place with a lead over Toulon, their opponent next weekend in a late match. Racing 92, beaten for the fourth time in nine matches, fell to ninth position in the standings.
