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Watch: Wallaby Will Skelton charges over for unstoppable La Rochelle score

La Rochelle's Australian lock Will Skelton dives across the line to score a try during the European Rugby Champions Cup Pool 4 rugby union match between Stade Rochelais (La Rochelle) and Leicester Tigers at The Marcel-Deflandre Stadium in La Rochelle, western France on January 14, 2024. (Photo by XAVIER LEOTY / AFP) (Photo by XAVIER LEOTY/AFP via Getty Images)

Wallabies captain Will Skelton played the role of hero and villain for La Rochelle on Sunday as the two-time defending European champions ran away with a commanding 45-12 win over Leicester in the Champions Cup.

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Australia’s 2023 Rugby World Cup skipper sent the crowd into a frenzy with a monstrous carry and score late in the first term, but poor discipline after the break risked bringing their English opponents back into the contest.

But thankfully for La Rochelle, the French juggernauts held on for an all-important victory at Stade Marcel-Deflandre – after all, it was a must-win game.

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Ronan O’Gara’s men have fallen behind the pack domestically in France. While they sit in eighth place after 12 games, La Rochelle’s European form hasn’t exactly gone to plan either.

In a rematch of last year’s final, La Rochelle played Leinster in their first pool match of the 2023/24 Champions Cup campaign. But unlike that decider, La Rochelle was beaten.

South African side the Stormers also edged La Rochelle by one point in pool play which set up a decisive matchup with Leicester in just their third match of the European season.

France hooker Pierre Bourgarit opened the scoring in just the fifth minute for La Rochelle, but the hosts couldn’t add to their advantage for a while – but it was truly worth the wait.

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Setting up an attacking lineout just five metres out from the try-line, La Rochelle ran a clever set-piece play as towering lock Will Skelton peeled off the back of a maul.

Skelton, 31, charged towards the Leicester defensive line with purpose and intent. The second-rower beat three defenders to crash over for the score in the 32nd minute.

Teammates flocked to Skelton as the Australian began to celebrate in the in-goal. It was a big moment in the context of that clash.

Lock George Martin made things interesting with Leicester’s first try just before the break, but La Rochelle made sure to have the last laugh with centre Ulupano Seuteni adding to their advantage.

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With a 14-point lead at the break, La Rochelle were firmly in control. Teddy Thomas added to their score with another five-point shortly after the break, too.

But in what could’ve been a turning point in the contest, Skelton was sent to the sin bin in the 50th minute. France centre Jonathan Danty followed his teammate a minute later, too.

Leicester had a two-player advantage over their favoured opponents, but it didn’t stop the La Rochelle machine from getting the job done in Europe.

Joel Sclavi scored, and both Teddy Thomas and Ulupano Seuteni completed their braces. It was a dominant win over La Rochelle, that’s for sure.

La Rochelle now occupies fourth-place in Pool 4 with Leicester slightly ahead of them by just two-competition points. Leinster and the Stormers sit in first and second respectively.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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