Rampant La Rochelle ignite title defence with demolition of Leicester
Leicester were unable to capitalise on a two-man second-half advantage as they succumbed to a heavy 45-12 defeat to Champions Cup holders La Rochelle at a sold-out Stade Marcel Deflandre.
The previously unbeaten Tigers were outscored seven tries to two by a La Rochelle side seeking their first win in Pool D, with George Martin and Dan Kelly crossing for the visitors and Jamie Shillcock adding a conversion.
For the two-time reigning champions, centre UJ Seuteni and wing Teddy Thomas each scored twice, with Pierre Bourgarit, Will Skelton and Joel Sclavi also touching down. Antoine Hastoy successfully slotted over the extras on five occasions.
The French powerhouses were reduced to 13 men after Skelton and Jonathan Danty were sent to the sin bin within a minute of each other early in the second period, but La Rochelle still managed to assert their dominance and keep themselves in contention for a last-16 berth.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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