Victor Vito steers La Rochelle into the Champions Cup semis
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It was the Victor Vito show on Saturday at the Stade Marcel Deflandre as La Rochelle booked their place in the Champions Cup semi-finals.
The former All Blacks' back-rower has hinted that he may be retiring at the end of the season but his performance showed that he still has plenty of rugby in him.
The 35-year-old was one of La Rochelle's three try scorers with prop Dany Priso and centre Levani Botia crossing the whitewash, with Ihaia West kicking a further 16 points for the hosts.
Montpellier struggled to gain the upper hand but did score tries through Henry Thomas, Yvan Reilhac and Zach Mercer, with Louis Forsans kicking two conversions.
Vito completed a superb offload down the touchline to send Dany Priso into space go over under the posts, West converted the prop’s try.
After assisting Priso's score, Vito added his name to the scoresheet after a smart offload from Botia that found Jules Favre who sent the 35-year-old over, West converted again.
Montpellier cut the deficit to 10 points before the break as Henry Thomas powered over, Forsans added on the extras.
Straight after the break, Reilhac pounced on a loose ball and race to the whitewash to score, Forsans kicked another conversion to further close the gap to La Rochelle.
La Rochelle responded swiftly through Botia. The centre brilliantly held off a tackle from Gabriel N’gandebe to power over in the corner, after a through-the-legs-pass from Vito. West was unable to add to the lead.
The skills from Victor Vito to set it up! pic.twitter.com/YHZZYUgVoC
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) May 7, 2022
Back to back penalties from Ihaia West opened up a nine-point lead for the hosts with 10 minutes left to play and he slotted another in the final 10 minutes to secure the win.
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