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La Rochelle can move a step closer to the European Rugby Champions Cup knockout stages on Sunday afternoon as they travel to Coventry's Ricoh Arena to face Wasps in Pool 1
La Rochelle can move a step closer to the European Rugby Champions Cup knockout stages on Sunday afternoon as they travel to Coventry’s Ricoh Arena to face Wasps in Pool 1, live on Sky Sports.
- French Top 14 leaders La Rochelle pulled away at the Pool 1 summit with an emphatic 49-29 victory against last season's Aviva Premiership runners-up Wasps in France last weekend, with winger Vincent Rattaz and flanker Levani Botia Veivuke both bagging braces of tries in the rout.
- Heading into Round 4 of Champions Cup competition, La Rochelle's perfect record with three bonus-point wins from three means they boast a seven-point lead over second-placed Ulster Rugby in Pool 1, and another five-point haul in the English Midlands on Sunday could see the French side move within one win of securing a quarter-final spot.
- Wasps, guilty of numerous handling errors last weekend, will be desperate to offer a much-improved display before their home fans, with triumph an absolute necessity if they are keep their hopes of knockout rugby alive, with a nine-point gulf separating them from Sunday's visitors ahead of kick-off.
- La Rochelle will undoubtedly be in all-out attack mode, with centre Geoffrey Doumayrou at the heart of the action with nine clean breaks already this campaign, the second most in the Champions Cup, while Wasps' defensive efforts will be commanded by captain Joe Launchbury, who is the second best tackler in the tournament thus far, with 51 completed tackles.
Wasps brought La Rochelle's 100 per cent record to an end in Champions Cup Pool 1 with an impressive 21-3 win to avenge last week's defeat at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre. - 17/12/2017 15:02
Wasps brought La Rochelle’s 100 per cent record to an end in Champions Cup Pool 1 with an impressive 21-3 win to avenge last week’s defeat at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
- Elliot Daly opened the scoring at the Ricoh Arena following a Dan Robson pass, the British and Irish Lion then converting his own try from a difficult angle.
- Wasps lost last year's player of the season, Jimmy Gopperth, early on to injury, with Kyle Eastmond replacing him at inside-centre.
- Daly scored the second try after a Christian Wade breakaway on the right wing. The ball eventually came to Daly on the right after a Willie Le Roux offload. Daly took the conversion and brilliantly got the extra two points.
- La Rochelle seemed to struggle in the cold and wet conditions in Coventry. The French side found it difficult to maintain possession and gave away several penalties in key positions.
- Pierre Bourgarit had a rampaging run down the right wing, knocking Gabiriele Lovobalavu to the ground in the process, before Le Roux’s last-ditch tackle – very impressive for a player who was playing in the French third division last year.
- The French side found themselves out-muscled by the Wasps pack. This was shown in Wasps’ third try when Tom Cruse went over for five points after a lineout and maul.
- The visitors only got three points from a Brock James penalty halfway through the second half.
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