Leinster and La Rochelle primed for Champion Cup final rematch
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Leinster Rugby and Stade Rochelais face off in the Champions Cup for the second season running as the Irish province look to exact revenge on their French counterparts.
The game kicks off at 16:45 (UK & Irish time) on Saturday and is set to feature a raucous sell-out crowd at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Leinster were denied a fifth Heineken Champions Cup crown by La Rochelle in last season’s showpiece game in Marseille and will be bidding to equal Stade Toulousain’s record haul of titles once again.
It is the Dublin-based side’s seventh final in EPCR’s elite competition, with four of those resulting in trophies (2009, 2011, 2012 and 2018) and two ending in defeat (2019 and 2022).
Meanwhile, La Rochelle will be gunning for back-to-back titles after Arthur Retiere’s dramatic late try last May earned them a maiden EPCR crown.
This year sees them feature in a third straight final, with their first ever showpiece game in EPCR competitions in 2021 ending in a 22-17 loss to domestic rivals Toulouse at Twickenham Stadium.
Leinster and La Rochelle boast a plethora of star names and Saturday’s game will see two of the best club sides on the planet go head-to-head.
Four of the five players on the EPCR Player of the Year shortlist are set to be involved – Leinster trio Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Garry Ringrose have enjoyed superb campaigns, as has La Rochelle captain Grégory Alldritt.
There will be fascinating battles across the park – in addition to back-row forward Doris and flanker van der Flier, who is the leading try scorer in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup and was the 2022 EPCR Player of the Year, Leinster’s pack features huge figures such as prop Andrew Porter, lock James Ryan and No.8 Jack Conan.
La Rochelle have the firepower to trouble any forward pack – prop Uini Atonio, lock Will Skelton and flanker Levani Botia are incredible talents along with No.8 Alldritt.
It’s the same story across the two back lines, with opposing scrum-halves Jamison Gibson-Park and Tawera Kerr-Barlow both catalysts for their respective sides.
Leinster fly-half Ross Byrne has been a superb deputy for the injured Johnny Sexton this season – he is the second highest points scorers in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup on 81, four adrift of La Rochelle counterpart Antoine Hastoy.
Centre Ringrose faces a colossal midfield duel with Jonathan Danty, while Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien and La Rochelle’s Raymond Rhule are both excellent finishers on the wing.
Both teams suffered defeat in their last domestic games before Saturday’s final, but they rested many of their big guns ahead of their gargantuan Heineken Champions Cup clash.
