La Rochelle’s dominance over Leinster has its roots in the troubled relationship between Munster and Leinster
Stade Rochelais' Levani Botia and La Rochelle Head Coach Ronan O'Gara at the Heineken Champions Cup Final in Dublin. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
O’Gara’s aim was for La Rochelle to be the best team in Europe. To achieve this goal they had to overcome Leinster. So he did it the only way he knew how. He brought his Munster mindset to France, enabling Les Maritimes, to emulate Munster’s ability to press every one of Leinster’s buttons. All of this follows on from last year’s pantomime where Grégory Alldritt, the La Rochelle skipper, claimed James Ryan, the Leinster captain and a great person, supposedly disrespected him by not looking him in the eye at the coin toss.
The theme continued this week with a stream of social media posts from Les Rochelais. My highlight was the playing of The Fields of Athenry on the La Rochelle team bus. I am sure that some cultural explanation was required as to why stealing Trevelyan’s corn earned Michael an all-expenses-paid, one-way cruise to Sydney.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen during Leinster vs Leicester Tigers in Dublin. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
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