Grégory Alldritt: La Rochelle must ‘take on the impossible’

The Irish province will have the benefit of home soil in this season’s showpiece game, having been defeated by the TOP 14 outfit in Marseille in last year’s final.

After crossing for a try in La Rochelle’s 48-22 semi-final drubbing of Exeter Chiefs in Bordeaux last Sunday, Alldritt set his sights on back-to-back titles as he rallied his troops for an almighty battle at the Aviva Stadium on May 20.

“These are the kind of matches we want,” he stated. “Winning there (in Dublin) is something we haven’t done. We love big challenges.

“The team does not go there saying that it has nothing to lose. It goes there to surpass itself collectively and individually.

We want to finish this competition without regret. The best way is to lift the cup in Dublin. It pushes us to get this second star.

“We play rugby to experience these moments. We must not slow down even if we will have the final in the back of our minds. The group is growing. Being qualified is not enough for us. We are very ambitious.

“We don’t look behind us. The team wanted to qualify for this final and in the TOP 14. We are lucky to have 40 to 50 players involved and we can see, from their pride today, that their commitment is sincere. Everyone will benefit.

“We are very happy with the victory, but we are far from having the perfect match. It’s great in a way, there’s no point in making the perfect game. There are still a lot of things to work on.

“We will have to take on the impossible, but we love it. We cannot wait to be there.”