Is it finally first or last? The final whistle places Stade Rochelais on top of Europe. Tonight, like all Charentais Maritimes and their horde yellow-black supporters, it’s a matter of equalizing the feat Vincent Merling’s club just accomplished against Leinster.
Four-time European champions, a legendary team was defeated in a melting Stade-Velodrome. On this historical evening, each word is important. The first, therefore, disputes it with finally the original. Finally, because the Top 14 breakaway against Toulon in 2017 on a drop by Anthony Belleau, the Challenge Cup semifinal loss against Clermont in 2019, and the two defeats against Toulouse last year (Top 14 finals and Champions Cup finals), a heavy Poulidorian plaster started to stick to the crampons in the Maritimes. The players of Gregory Aldritt removed this band-aid with fury, but it was not a permanent solution. However, the former had to be retained.
The club, which was founded in 1898 under the Two Towers, has not been the first French team ever to win the most beautiful trophy for European club rugby. This feat was achieved by Brive (once), Toulon (four times), and Toulouse (three times). They are, however, the first to fly it in the great South-West (former Aquitaine & Poitou-Charentes). Twice, Biarritz has come close. Yesterday, La Rochelle didn’t miss the chance. We allow ourselves to feel a bit chauvinistic for an institution that has been far away, at least not in our first circle of clubs. It’s a little too far north with no track record, and long handicapped by limited ambition. It’s a long road… But La Rochelle is on the right track. This is only the beginning.
