Leinster 21-24 La Rochelle: French side strike in final minute to win maiden Heineken Champions Cup title
Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle pick up first Heineken Champions Cup title in their history after final-minute try through Arthur Retiere at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille; Raymond Rhule, Pierre Bougarit also scored tries as French side rallied from eight points behind in the second half
By Michael Cantillon at Stade Velodrome
Last Updated: 29/05/22 12:21am
A dramatic final-minute try by Arthur Retiere secured La Rochelle a first ever European Cup triumph, as they fought back to beat favourites Leinster 24-21 in Marseille.
La Rochelle scored three tries in the sweltering heat of the Stade Velodrome through wing Raymond Rhule, hooker Pierre Bourgarit and replacement scrum-half Retiere, while try-less Leinster scored all their points through penalties.
Johnny Sexton kicked six penalties from the tee, but limped off in the second half as Ross Byrne added another penalty, with the four-time winners distinctly flat and subdued on the biggest of occasions.
Despite a sub-par showing, however, Leinster were eight points ahead heading into the final quarter as La Rochelle repeatedly found themselves on the wrong side of referee Wayne Barnes.
La Rochelle scored to reduce the deficit to a single point, but when second-row Thomas Lavault was sin-binned for a needless trip on Jamison Gibson-Park with just 14 minutes left, and Leinster kicked the resultant penalty to lead by four points, it looked as if the Irish province would draw level with record-holders Toulouse on five titles.
Ronan O'Gara's charges - who lost the final to Toulouse at Twickenham last year - instead showed superb spirit and effort to dominate the rest of the play, even while down a man, before striking at the death for a magnificent victory, becoming just the 13th club to win Europe's greatest prize.
Enormous favourites heading into the game, Leinster - who contained 13 of Ireland's Triple Crown winners - made a promising start to the contest as their first maul roared forward with ominous dominance, and their opening attack was only quelled when La Rochelle skipper Gregory Alldritt did marvellously to turn over the ball metres from his own line.
Still, Leinster came again, hitting the lead as early as the fifth minute when Sexton punished a La Rochelle breakdown penalty with a calm strike for 3-0.
Two penalties in quick succession followed against La Rochelle from the restart, as first they gave up easy metres to Leinster by going off feet in the 22, before a quick Jimmy O'Brien break down the right and lightning quick ball by Gibson-Park brought an offside call, allowing Sexton to double the lead from close range.
Having struggled to get going to that point, La Rochelle arrived into the final on 10 minutes through a stunning Rhule try, as the South African cut inside after a lovely Dillyn Leyds offload and scorched past Hugo Keenan to dive over.
La Rochelle out-half Ihaia West - who does not possess the best kicking record, and kicked awfully in their semi-final win over Racing 92 two weeks ago - struck the conversion from out wide brilliantly for the lead.
The French side - now firmly with their tails up - pinched a misthrown Leinster lineout minutes later and attacked again to huge vocal backing in the stadium, before romping forward for a scrum penalty to bring about another 22 visit.
Poor hands saw them pushed back, however, despite two promising, pacy runs by physical centre Jonathan Danty, and the move was ended when Danty was tackled into touch.
Leinster lost hooker Ronan Kelleher to injury shortly after, before La Rochelle supporters drummed up a stirring rendition of La Marseillaise and Leinster back-row Caelan Doris then knocked on a Sexton pass which was slightly behind him.
A better few minutes for Leinster saw them achieve parity at the scrum and also maul forward for another penalty, and though a second lineout was botched, they were fortunate as La Rochelle were penalised for blocking while trying to exit, and Sexton struck over to regain the lead at 9-7.
A Rhule spillage under a high ball - which appeared to go back but was ruled a knock-on - handed Leinster the next big chance near the La Rochelle 22, but a Sexton kick ahead ran too long, before the 36-year-old struck a scruffy drop-goal short following a goal-line dropout.
Rhule and co responded by wrestling Keenan off the pitch to stir the crowd up again, and though the likes of prop Uini Atonio, lock Will Skelton and Rhule caused havoc with ball in hand, making metres with each carry, the pressure on Leinster was arrested by a neck-roll call by flanker Wiaan Liebenberg on Tadhg Furlong.
Undeterred, La Rochelle stole possession back before forcing a penalty with Leinster caught on the wrong side at the breakdown. Alldritt chose to kick for the corner instead of a shot for the lead, before incessant attacking on the Leinster try-line - during which the Irish province were penalised twice in the same move - should have given way to a try out wide, but full-back Brice Dulin knocked on.
Having attacked off penalty advantage, La Rochelle called for a five-metre scrum in the final few minutes of the first half, but a huge call went against them as touch judge Christophe Ridley called for a penalty against the head in Leinster's favour, despite La Rochelle loosehead Dany Priso appearing to drive Furlong back.
Ponderous dallying by Dulin a metre from his own try-line instead of clearing the ball then handed Leinster a final chance of the half once Gibson-Park dumped the full-back back over his own try-line, and despite being on the back-foot for much of it, Sexton kicked Leinster into a 12-7 half-time lead after an offside call.
No doubt immensely frustrated by the opening half, La Rochelle began the second perfectly: Priso jackalling to win a penalty at virtually the first breakdown from the kick-off, and West narrowing the gap back to two points.
The Leinster maul again brought about a penalty to get them back into the game, and though a knock-on appeared to be missed by the officials, clever play by Lowe - kicking a bouncing ball off Rhule to win a lineout in the 22 - saw Leinster go on to strike for three more points with La Rochelle found offside again.
A knock-on by Alldritt saw La Rochelle surrender their next chance after Danty had carried hard into Sexton, and on 52 minutes, Sexton punished yet another offside call against La Rochelle to push the lead out to two scores.
A West pass which hit Atonio with La Rochelle pushing hard in the Leinster 22 saw another opportunity disappear, but after Dulin struck wide with a poor drop-goal effort, Sexton was caught deep in his 22 by scrum-half Thomas Berjan and La Rochelle then won a significant breakdown penalty on the hour mark, kicking to the corner for a five-metre lineout chance.
From that, an utterly dominant maul rumbled forward and the outstanding Bougarit touched down at the back of it for a crucial try.
When West produced a clean strike and successful conversion, La Rochelle were back to within a point of Leinster, and with all the momentum too.
Keenan put a foot in touch under a long Dulin kick just outside the Leinster 22 to send the La Rochelle fans wild, but the ensuing attack was halted when flanker Josh van der Flier - named European Player of the Year after the game - ripped possession back after a maul.
By that point, Sexton had departed with an ankle injury, but disaster appeared to strike for La Rochelle with Lavault's senseless sin-binning after a TMO review - Byrne's successful penalty coming from where the ball landed after Gibson-Park kicked ahead before being tripped.
To their huge credit, La Rochelle proceeded to dominate the remainder despite being down to 14 for most of it, and after nearly 10 minutes of attacking at the Leinster line and being stopped just short, Retiere stumbled, ducked and squirmed for the try-line to cue bedlam in the stands.
With the try coming so late, all West had to do was wait until the clock struck red before kicking the conversion, with Leinster powerless to stop defeat.
