Rumble at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre as Montpellier challenge La Rochelle

It’s an all-French affair at Stade Marcel-Deflandre as Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle host Montpellier. 

Last round, La Rochelle had the better of Bordeaux on the former’s home turf: 

Montpellier fell to Premiership champions, Harlequins, but made it through to the quarters on aggregate: 

Key facts: 

• It will be Stade Rochelais’ fourth time facing TOP 14 opposition in the competition (W2 L1) and Montpellier’s 12th time playing another French side (W4 L7). 
• This will be Stade Rochelais’ third appearance in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup, having won one and lost one of their previous two matches at this stage. Their quarter-final win came at Stade Marcel Deflandre, where they notched a 45-21 victory against Sale Sharks in 2020/21. 
• This will be Montpellier’s second appearance in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup. They lost their only previous fixture at this stage of the competition, which also took place away from home against French opposition. 
• No side have spent a greater proportion of their matches in opposition territory in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup than Stade Rochelais (57%). Meanwhile, no team remaining in the competition had less territory than Montpellier (47%). 
• Stade Rochelais missed just nine tackles in their Round of 16 second-leg victory against Union-Bordeaux Bègles, the fewest of any side in the last round of fixtures. Their 14.8 missed tackles per game is the third-lowest average among teams remaining in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup. 
• Only two teams made more offloads than Montpellier across their two Round of 16 fixtures (20), despite making the second fewest passes across the two legs (195). Montpellier also ranked in the top three teams for line breaks in the Round of 16 (11). 
• No player has completed more offloads in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup than Stade Rochelais’ Gregory Alldritt (12). Alldritt also ranks first for carries (73) and joint-third for breakdown steals in the competition this season (6). 
• Montpellier’s Louis Foursans-Bourdette registered two try assists in his side’s Round of 16 second-leg tie against Harlequins. He was one of just two players to make both a kick assist and a pass assist in the last round of fixtures.