La Rochelle underlined their European Champions Cup title credentials by thrashing last season’s quarter-finalists Wasps 49-29 at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
The French outfit were utterly relentless in the first half, scoring three converted tries via Pierre Aguillon, Pierre Bourgarit and Levani Botia. Brock James also kicked three penalties as Patrice Collazo’s men took a comfortable advantage into the interval.
Dai Young’s side had little answer to the power, tempo and skill level of the hosts, even if they initially responded to their opponents’ brilliance through Rob Miller and Thomas Young efforts.
If their director of rugby had expected a response from his charges in the second period, it failed to materialise as Vincent Rattez scored the home team’s fourth try.
Rattez added his second later on but Wasps managed to rescue a bonus-point with Elliot Daly, Joe Simpson and Will Stuart going over.
However, the dominant outfit in Pool 1 deservedly had the final word when Botia scampered clear.
La Rochelle are the current leaders of the Top 14 and Collazo’s team showed why on Sunday afternoon, displaying a range of skills and ambition that no team in Europe can match.
They were superb from the kick-off, almost going the length of the field, before outstanding youngster Thomas Jolmes was tackled into touch.
It was a sign of things to come but their bright start was only rewarded with a James’ penalty after Young had been sin-binned for a tip tackle. Instead, the visitors hit back with a well-worked move which resulted in Miller crossing the whitewash for a 5-3 advantage.
That score failed to prevent the La Rochelle juggernaut, however, as Danny Cipriani’s attempted clearance kick was pounced on by Aguillon, who touched down.
Another Wasps’ mistake then resulted in the hosts’ second try when a botched lineout allowed Bourgarit to go clear. Although the hooker was taken down just short of the line, the 20-year-old picked himself up and scored from close range.
Young’s excellent finish gave the English outfit hope but they were simply outclassed throughout and, after Botia had re-established their 12-point buffer, successive James three-pointers meant that the away side had it all to do in the second half.
Any hopes of a comeback were duly extinguished almost immediately through some intelligent play by scrum-half Alexi Bales. He allowed Daly to commit before feeding Victor Vito, who off-loaded to Rattez to score.
The England back did get some revenge by crossing the whitewash, but the wing’s opposite number went over for La Rochelle’s fifth.
To their credit, the visitors continued to battle and secured a try bonus-point when Simpson and Stuart touched down, but Botia scored late on to rubberstamp the French team's victory.
The scorers:
For La Rochelle:
Tries: Aguillon, Bourgarit, Botia 2, Rattez 2
Cons: James 3, Lamb 2
Pens: James 3
For Wasps:
Tries: Miller, Young, Daly, Simpson, Stuart
Cons: Gopperth 2
Yellow Cards: Young, de Jongh
La Rochelle: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Jérémy Sinzelle, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Pierre Aguillon, 11 Vincent Rattez, 10 Brock James, 9 Alexi Bales, 8 Victor Vito, 7 Levani Botia, 6 Zeno Kieft, 5 Thomas Jolmes, 4 Jason Eaton, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Pierre Bourgarit, 1 Dany Priso
Replacements: 16 Jeremie Maurouard, 17 Hikairo Forbes, 18 Mohamed Boughanmi, 19 Romain Sazy, 20 Kevin Gourdon, 21 Jean-Victor Goillot, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 Rene Ranger
Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell, 5 James Gaskell, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 3 Marty Moore, 2 Ashley Johnson, 1 Simon McIntyre
Replacements: 16 Tom Cruse, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Jack Willis, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Marcus Watson, 23 Gaby Lovobalavu
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: David Wilkinson (Ireland), Kieran Barry (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
The post La Rochelle go three from three appeared first on Planet Rugby.