Bristol Bears left to rue missed opportunities as La Rochelle flex their muscles in Champions Cup defeat
On a day when Bristol Bears needed everything to go their way to beat the two-time Champions Cup winners La Rochelle on their own turf, very little did as Pat Lam’s side went down 35-7 away at the Stade Marcel-Deflandre.
La Rochelle scored tries through Jack Nowell, Tolu Latu, Levani Botia, UJ Seuteni and Thomas Berjon with Ihaia West adding five conversions to claim the attacking bonus point and back-up their win away at Premiership leaders Bath last weekend, while a stunning solo score from Jack Bates, converted by academy fly-half Sam Worsely - who was in for the injured AJ MacGinty, was all the Bears had to show for their tremendous endeavors having been beaten up by Leinster just six days earlier.
Post-match, Bristol director of rugby Lam reflected: “We had a lot of opportunities we probably didn’t take. We opened them up a few times but the game got slow and we made a few mistakes and gave away a few penalties.”
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“I am proud of our team, La Rochelle got nothing for free in that game. Three of their tries went to the TMO which shows it wasn’t clear all the time. The boys just kept coming. We have got some people missing but for some of the young boys it was a real baptism of fire for them, a great occasion and opportunity for us to grow as a team.”
In terms of things going against the Bears, first, it rained pre-match to hand La Rochelle's monstrous pack the advantage against Bristol’s brand of fast, highly skillful ball movement, and then the Bears lost Lovejoy Chawatama to an injury in the warm-up which promoted Max Lahiff into the starting line-up and 20-year-old Jimmy Halliwell onto the bench for his Champions Cup debut. Lahiff put in a heroic shift at tighthead alongside Ellis Genge, but the Top 14 side’s pack gained the upper hand in the scrum as the game progressed.
The English side’s chances were dealt a further blow when Gabriel Oghre was shown a yellow card for a high tackle on a dipping Tawera Kerr-Barlow in just the fifth minute of the match. The Bears held out while a man down, but then quickly went behind when back to 15.
Both the hosts’ tries in the first half were awarded after forensic TMO checks in a game with plenty of sliding doors moments.
La Rochelle opened the scoring with some sublime play from former England star Jack Nowell who gathered a difficult bouncing ball in the deadball area from a cross-field kick from West, pulling it in from over the touchline while staying in-field by the width of a blade of grass to touch down.
Having failed to cross with a promising driving maul earlier in the contest, the Bears then squandered another guilt-edge scoring opportunity, born from the dazzling footwork of Kalaveti Ravouvou who put Benjamin Elizalde away down the left wing, but the young Argentine got caught in two minds whether to back himself for the corner or draw the corner-flagging defender and pass back to the Fijian and ended up nothing neither and got driven into touch a metre short of the promised land.
Hooker Latu then crashed over at the bottom of a maul from a 5m lineout with a grounding spotted just as the officials were about to abandon their search for the seemingly lost ball.
With a minute left in the half, Bristol produced a moment of brilliance with a quick lineout near halfway sparking the attack, allowing Elizalde to put a cross-field kick up for Bates to leap into the air and claim before slaloming his way beyond three defenders to score arguably the best try of his senior career.
That score, combined with the evidence they could trouble La Rochelle’s defence from the missed opportunities, gave the visitors hope at the interval.
The Bears hung in the fight, with Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Joe Owen combining to drive Nowell into touch just inches before he crossed the try line again.
But eventually, the hosts' size and power took their toll, with goliaths Will Skelton and Uini Atonio both making sizeable punches in the Bristol defence before replacement flanker Levani Botia picked at the back of the ruck and blasted over. The Fijian was instrumental in tipping the balance of the game in favour of Ronan O’Gara’s side as he caused carnage at the breakdown in second half to punish the adventurousness of Bristol whenever they got isolated.
The last chance to regain momentum came and went in the 53 minute after Oghre intercepted a pass inside his 22 and sparked a counterattack that ended with Harry Randall getting tackled 5m out. La Rochelle blew through the ruck, seemingly off their feet and from the side, but were awarded a vital turnover.
With the penalties starting to mount up to allow La Rochelle repeat entries into the Bears’ 22, the French side struck with Seuteni blasting through Ravouvou to touch down. And with the clock five minutes into the red replacement scrum half Berjon sniped off the back of an advancing scrum to run up the scores.
The defeat leaves the Bears bottom of pool six with games against Benetton and Clermont to come.
La Rochelle: 15. Dillyn Leyds, 14. Jack Nowell, 13. UJ Seuteni, 12. Jonathan Danty, 11. Teddy Thomas, 10. Ihaia West, 9. Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 1. Reda Wardi, 2. Tolu Latu, 3. Uini Atonio, 4. Kane Douglas, 5. Will Skelton, 6. Oscar Jegou, 7. Matthias Haddad, 8. Grégory Alldritt ©
Replacements: 16. Quentin Lespiaucq, 17. Louis Penverne, 18. Georges-Henri Colombe, 19. Ultan Dillane, 20. Levani Botia, 21. Judicael Cancoriet, 22. Thomas Berjon, 23. Jules Favre
Bristol Bears: 15. Benjamin Elizalde, 14. Jack Bates, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. Sam Worsley, 9. Harry Randall, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Gabriel Oghre, 3.Max Lahiff, 4. Steven Luatua (c), 5. Joe Owen, 6. Santiago Grondona, 7. Jake Heenan, 8. Bill Mata
Replacements: 16. Harry Thacker, 17. Jake Woolmore, 18. Jimmy Halliwell, 19. Jamie Hodgson, 20. Benjamin Grondona, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Rich Lane, 23. Joe Jenkins