In the French stadium,

Words are hard to find when you’re at this point next to a historic meeting. The La Rochelle players, who were defeated but flawlessly – on the contrary – in last month’s European Cup final, were not recognized at the Stade de France. “Toulouse was ten times better than us,” summed up coach Ronan O’Gara, who bowed his head in the mixed zone. The club failed to achieve its first league title.

The Irishman goes to all the trouble in the world to explain what he saw on the ground during the final of the 14th round. That said, he’s not forgiving. Playing the final is such a big disappointment. This game is not us, it is not what we have been doing all this season. “

The coach was also very sad for the fans who came in droves and largely won the match in the stands. It was not enough to carry their team. Led by 12 points in the first half, Rochelle managed to score from the start of the second half. But their striker Ihaia West missed the next penalty, and in the aftermath, Toulouse quelled the little suspense that remained.

“There were a lot of fouls, a lot of hand errors, a lot of inaccuracies, Captain Roman Sazi enumerates succinctly. In the first forty minutes, we couldn’t do worse, that’s clear. Our game wasn’t in place at all, and they played The rugby we’ve played a lot this season, with an occupation game, a stress game which works very well.”

Keep knocking on the door

In fact, Stade Rochelais was eaten in his favorite areas, the conquest, the physical impact, the balls he carried. “That is exactly it, Plague Ugara. That is what we wanted to do, but it is too late now. At this level, ruthless.” Indeed. La Rochelle had a great season, but not many people remember the finalists, not in the Champions Cup more than the top 14.

“La Rochelle is a team that definitely deserves to grab something this year, but the high level doesn’t share much with us and my players didn’t necessarily want to share that much,” said opposing coach, Ugo Mola. A lesson to be learned in the future. Grégory Alldritt: “This is not a season to shake, you have to learn the consequences and keep knocking on the door and it will open one day.”