There’s no getting through here: Stormer Frans Malherbe (below) is stopped by Stade Rochelais’ Jonathan Danty (April 6, 2024)
With a strong comeback win against the Stormers from Cape Town on Saturday, defending champion Stade Rochelais was able to qualify for the quarter-finals of the European Rugby Champions Cup, the premier class in club rugby. After two titles in the last two seasons, the French from the Atlantic coast are on course for a title hat-trick – a feat that only RC Toulon from the south of France has achieved in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Stormers led comfortably 16-0 (half-time score 13-0), but lost by a narrow margin of 21-22 after a strong second half from Stade Rochelais. The Stormers even had the chance to decide the game in their favor at the last moment after wing Suleiman Hartzenberg scored a last-minute try.
There was a risk of history repeating itself for La Rochelle: When the two teams met in the group stage last December, the Stormers reduced the lead to 19:20 with a try in the last minute of the game. Fly-half Manie Libbok elegantly flicked the subsequent kick between the posts from a difficult position on the right wing to make it 21:20. But on Saturday Libbok failed, mainly because of the stiff breeze that blew through the stadium. The ball sailed wide of the left goal post and the Stade Rochelais players could hardly believe their luck.
La Rochelle’s opponents will be the Leinster Rugby team in Dublin next Saturday. The Irish team won 36:22 against the Leicester Tigers from England at the Aviva Stadium at home. One of the smallest players on the pitch towered over everyone else: after the Tigers led 7-0, scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park turned up the heat. The lively Irish pacer scored three tries within 30 minutes – one more beautiful than the other – and crowned his performance with a hat trick. On Saturday, however, Saracens from London – three-time title holders in 2016, 2017 and 2019 – really came under the bus. Saracens had no chance against Union Bordeaux-Bègle and deservedly went down 45:12. “Les Unionistes” will now face Harlequin Football Club from London in the quarter-finals next Saturday.
In a dramatic encounter right up to the end, the Harlequins beat the last Scottish representative in the competition, the Glasgow Warriors, 28:24. In their home stadium, “The Stoop,” the “Quins” had the Warriors under control by halftime with a score of 21:7. But the Scots turned the game around and led 21:24 with 20 minutes to go. In the 76th minute of the game, the Harlequins strikers put together a powerful package a few meters from the Warriors’ in-goal after their own throw-in. Once they got rolling, the Harlequins – in their colorful jerseys reminiscent of clown costumes – tore apart the opposing attack line rather humorlessly. The “maul” pushed inexorably into the in-goal area, where hooker Sam Riley made the decisive attempt.
The last remaining South African representatives in the competition are the Bulls. At the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, the “Bulls” defeated Lyon Olympique Universitaire 59:19. Pretoria was superior to Lyon in all respects, was livelier, more playful, stronger in running and more aggressive, harder and uncompromising in contact situations – typically South African, just. In the quarter-finals on Saturday, the Bulls will face the Northampton Saints away from home, who beat the team from the western Irish province of Munster 24:14 in a thrilling duel with numerous lead changes.
The Exeter Chiefs, who beat Bath Rugby 21:15, also qualified as another English representative. This means that the Chiefs will probably have the most difficult task in the quarter-finals next weekend, when they have to take on five-time Champions Cup winners Stade Toulousain away from home. In an all-French duel, Toulouse had scrubbed the Racing 92 team, based west of Paris, 31-7 at the end of the matchday on Sunday.
