Otherwise, for Leinster, it was all about the bomb. At one point, they survived more than 20 phases of pressure from La Rochelle within its 22 which was held as an attempt. Eventually, the dam exploded. Like Dulin in the first half, Hugo Keenan couldn’t dance to get out of trouble inside his own 22 and was scracked. After a corner kick that was nicely executed by Matthias Haddad.
Following the match script, La Rochelle proceeded to deliver the lead directly to Leinster when Lavault cynically tripped Gibson-Park. It was not the crime of the century but was rightly picked up by the TMO and resulted in a yellow card and three more points for Leinster, this time delivered by Byrne.
With a man advantage and a four-point buffer in the last 15 minutes, anyone out of the stadium would have assumed the victory was for Leinster. However, La Rochelle d’O’Gara refused to read the script and after what seemed like an eternity inside the Leinster 22 Retiere struck the killer blow.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 3-0, Sexton pen; 6-0, Sexton pen; 6-5, Rhule essay; 6-7, West with; 9-7, Sexton pen; 12-7, Sexton pen; 12-10, pen west; 15-10, Sexton pen; 18-10, Sexton pen; 18-15, Bourgarit essay; 18-17, West con; 21-17, Byrne pen; 21-22, Retiere’s essay; 21-24, West con
Leinster: H Keenan; J O’Brien, G Ringrose, R Henshaw, J Lowe; J Sexton (R Byrne, 63), J Gibson-Park (L McGrath, 76); A Porter (C Healy, 64), R Kelleher (D Sheehan, 14), T Furlong (M Ala’alatoa, 64), R Molony (J McCarthy, 77), J Ryan, C Doris (R Ruddock, 66), J Van der Flier, J Conan.
Unused spare parts: C Frawley.
La Rochelle: B Dulin; D Leyds (J Favre, 67), J Sinzelle, J Danty (L Botia, 68), R Rhule; I West, T Berjon (Retired, 65); D Prison (R Wardi, 54), P Bourgarit, R Bosch, 66, Atonio, J Sclavi, 62, T Lavault, R Sazy, W Skelton, W Liebenberg, Bourdeau, M Haddad, G Alldritt
Sin-bin: Lavault 64-74
Attendance: 59,682
Referee: W Barnes (English)