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La Rochelle prove the scourge of English clubs again as they end Saracens' run

By PA
Owen Farrell, the Saracens captain looks dejected during the Heineken Champions Cup match between Stade Rochelais and Saracens at Stade Marcel Deflandre on April 09, 2023 in La Rochelle, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

La Rochelle will face Exeter in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-finals in Bordeaux after they clinically despatched three-time winners Saracens 24-10.

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Ronan O’Gara’s men made it 14 wins in a row on the pitch this season and last as they picked up a third Gallagher Premiership scalp of the campaign, having twice beaten Northampton in the pool stages and Gloucester in the round of 16.

Saracens did not get to grips with the refereeing interpretations of Ireland’s Andrew Brace, conceding 18 penalties and missing 26 tackles. They also lost replacement hooker Tom Wolstencroft to a yellow card at the end.

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The champions fired the first shots with their early pressure earning them two penalties which Antoine Hastoy kicked in the first and fourth minutes. The home outside-half then missed with a third shot a few minutes later.

All three kicks were down to their tigerish attitude at the breakdown, with Ben Earl, Billy Vunipola and Alex Goode all being punished in that phase. Fijian Levani Botia, who switches between centre and openside flanker, was brilliant in the back and went on to win a stream of turnovers.

Saracens got their first chance to build pressure in the home 22 after Owen Farrell kicked a penalty to within 10 metres. They could not turn that raid into points, but picked up three from their next entry after 22 minutes when Farrell kicked a penalty from in front of the posts after former Saracens man Will Skelton had infringed.

That attack came at a high cost as Saracens lost number eight Billy Vunipola to what looked like a serious injury to his right knee. The England back row man tried to limp off, but was eventually taken to the dressing room by stretcher and watched the second half on crutches.

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Jackson Wray came on to replace him and gave Hastoy a fourth shot at goal just before the half-hour mark when Botica turned him over. Hastoy hit the target and then six minutes later converted a great try from his half-back partner Tawera Kerr-Barlow.

The move began on halfway, with Skelton leading the route one charge. Hooker Pierre Bourgarit was the next to carry, before prop Reda Wardi joined the party. By now the champions were deep in the Saracens 22 and Kerr-Barlow used his number eight Gregory Alldritt as a runaround post before finding a gaping hole to exploit to claim the try.

That made it 16-3 to the home side at the break and left the Saracens with a mountain to climb to get back into the game.

The task got even harder when Kerr-Barlow picked up his second try of the match in the 58th minute. Full-back Brice Dulin made ground over halfway and Kerr-Barlow went right from the ruck. The outstanding Botia joined the back line and dummied his way past Farrell before giving his scrum-half an inside pass to reach the line.

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Saracens finally managed to hit back with a try from a close-range tap penalty by replacement prop Eroni Mawi at the posts, which Farrell easily improved to cut the gap temporarily to 11 points.

Hastoy extended that to 14 with another penalty, but then La Rochelle had to show the defensive side to their game as they held up Earl and then Maro Itoje over their line with Dulin in the sin-bin for a high tackle.

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m
mark 680 days ago

A lot of talented French players in that La Rochelle team Kerr Barlow,uini Antonio, will Skelton. Levani Botia, Raymond Thule

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kumar supriya 2 hours ago
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kumar supriya 2 hours ago
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MY NAME IS SUPRIYA KUMAR FROM INDIA PLEASE FIND TIME TO READ THIS CAREFULLY.              AS WE ALL KNOW INDIA IS NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD IN TERMS OF MAGIC SO DO NOT IGNORE THIS. BE CAREFUL HERE, NOBODY CAN HELP YOU FROM AFRICA OR EVEN SUGGEST HOW YOU CAN GET YOUR EX OR LOVE BACK, ANY TESTIMONIES OF MOST SPELL CASTER FROM AFRICA HERE MUST BE IGNORED, BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE SCAM I MEAN REAL SCAM AND FROM AFRICA WHICH I WAS A VICTIM AND I GOT RIPPED OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS BECAUSE I WAS SO ANXIOUS TO GET MY HUSBAND JOHN BACK AFTER HE LEFT ME FOR OVER 2YEARS WITH MY 3YEARS OLD SON JERRY,I HAVE APPLIED TO 7 DIFFERENT SPELL CASTER HERE I MET ON THIS BLOG AND ALL TO NO AVAIL THEY ALL ASK FOR SAME THING SEND YOUR NAME YOUR EX NAME ADDRESS AND PICTURE PHONE NUMBER ETC WHICH I DID OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND MOST OF THEM WERE FROM AFRICA, I WAS SO CONFUSED AND I WAS ALWAYS SICK BECAUSE OF THIS PROBLEM AND I WAS SO DESPERATE TO HAVE JOHN BACK TO ME I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND COULD DIE FOR HIM. UNTIL A FRIEND TOLD ME ABOUT THE TEMPLE OF DREAMS THE GREATEST SPELL TEMPLE, (templeofdreams1@gmail.com) TEMPLE OF BLACK AND WHITE (GOOD AND EVIL) IN INDIA, AND I DECIDED TO SEND A MAIL TO THE TEMPLE. THE SECRETARY TOLD ME THAT ALL MY PROBLEM ARE OVER SINCE I HAVE DECIDED TO CONTACT INDIA FOR HELP, HE TOLD ME TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN ME AND MY EX HUSBAND JOHN AND I DID, I TOLD HIM ALL THAT HAPPENED FROM THE BEGINNING. AND HE SAID TO ME MY CHILD WHAT YOU JUST EXPLAINED TO ME NOW IS A LITTLE PROBLEM TO HANDLE COMPARE TO SERIOUS PROBLEMS THE TEMPLE HAS HANDLED, I WAS SO SHOCKED AND I SAID TO MY SELF WHAT PROBLEM COULD BE MORE SERIOUS THAN THIS. HE TOLD ME WHAT I NEEDED TO DO AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, BUT WHAT HE SAID LOOK SIMILAR TO WHAT I HAVE HEARD IN THE PAST(THAT I WAS TO PAY FOR THE ITEMS NEEDED), I WAS HAVING DOUBT ABOUT IT BECAUSE OF PAST EXPERIENCE, BUT I DECIDED TO TRY SINCE THE TEMPLE IS LOCATED IN INDIA (ASIA) AND NOT AFRICA (NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA) THEY COULD BE REAL AND DIFFERENT. SO I GAVE THEM 50% OF MY TRUST. THIS WAS LIKE A MAGIC AND DREAM COME TRUE TO ME, AFTER TWO DAYS WHEN THE SPELL HAS BEEN CASTEED, JOHN BEEPED MY PHONE AT ABOUT 9:PM I COULD NOT SLEEP THAT NIGHT BECAUSE I REALLY LOVE JOHN AND WANT HIM BACK. BY 7:AM THE NEXT MORNING HE GAVE ME ANOTHER  MISSED CALL I DECIDED NOT TO CALL BACK AS I WAS STILL ON SHOCK,   AT ABOUT 10:AM THAT MORNING HE CALLED AND I PICKED HE SAID CAN WE SEE AFTER WORK TODAY I SAID YES SO HE ENDED THE CALL IMMEDIATELY I GOT OFF WORK HE CALLED ME AND TOLD ME WERE TO MEET HIM, I WAS STILL ON SHOCK, BEHOLD WHEN I GOT THERE I SAW JOHN CRYING WITH TEARS ALL OVER HIS EYES, AND HE SAID TO ME MY WIFE, I AM SO SORRY IMMEDIATELY I HUGGED HIM AND KISSED HIM WHICH I HAVE MISSED ALL THIS YEARS. ALL THANK TO TEMPLE OF DREAMS. IF YOU ARE A MAN OR A WOMAN READING THIS AND YOU ARE PASSING THROUGH SIMILAR PROBLEMS LIKE MINE, DO NOT FAIL TO CONTACT THIS GREAT TEMPLE. HE IS REALLY INDEED A REAL SPELL CASTER.           THE WORST OF ALL IS THAT I DON’T KNOW THE PARTICULAR DOCTOR THAT HELPED ME AS I WAS TOLD THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN 300 SPELL CASTERS WORKING IN THE TEMPLE, UNLIKE THE SINGLE SCAM DOCTORS IN AFRICA. I AM NO LONGER AFRAID OF THE SPELL CASTERS IN AFRICA BECAUSE THE TEMPLE OF DREAMS ASSURED AND GAVE ME HUNDRED PERCENT PROTECTION AND ALSO HELPED ME RECOVER 50% OF MY MONEY THAT I PAYED TO SCAMS FROM AFRICA SOME SERVICES RENDERED IN THE TEMPLE OF DREAMS (1) If you want your ex back. (2) To cure HIV/AID or related illness (3) You want to be promoted in your office. (4) You want women/men to run after you. (5) If you want a child. (6) Are you a contractor and you want to win contract (7) You want to tie your husband/wife to be yours forever. (8) If you need help spiritually. (9) How you been scammed and you want to recover you lost money.     (10)Stop Divorce (11)Invoking of Money Ritual (12)To verify if your online lover is real (13)To verify if your online loan is real (14)To be very brilliant (15)If you are looking for a good job (16)If you are old and want to look young (17) If you want to be free from threats of spell caster in AFRICA And many more.. Email... templeofdreams1@gmail.com  

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