French Top 14

Flashback: La Rochelle Snatches Heineken Champions Cup From Leinster

Flashback: La Rochelle Snatches Heineken Champions Cup From Leinster

Here, we revisit how Stade Rochelais snatched the 2022 Heineken Champions Cup title from Leinster in a thrilling game in Marseille last May.

May 17, 2023
Flashback: La Rochelle Snatches Heineken Champions Cup From Leinster

Leinster Rugby and Stade Rochelais face off in the Heineken Champions Cup final for the second year running, with the Irish province looking to exact revenge on their TOP 14 counterparts.

Here, we revisit how the title was snatched from Leinster in a thrilling game in Marseille last May.

2022 Heineken Champions Cup Final: Leinster Rugby 21, Stade Rochelais 24

Arthur Retiere was the hero, as La Rochelle clinched its first EPCR title in front of 59,682 fans at the Stade Vélodrome, with the replacement crossing in dramatic fashion on 78 minutes.

Leinster was in charge for much of the contest, as they regularly opted to kick for points, Johnny Sexton putting them ahead with two penalties inside the first eight minutes.


But La Rochelle would notch the game’s opening try on 11 minutes, as a brilliant Dillyn Leyds offload found Raymond Rhule, who stepped inside to finish superbly.

Ihaia West’s saw the French side take the lead, but Leinster punished its ill-discipline over the remainder of the first, as fly-half Sexton snapped up two further chances from the tee and sent Leinster into the break with a 12-7 lead.

Fly-half West reduced the deficit with a three-pointer shortly after the restart, but Sexton continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over for Leinster, adding two more penalties over the next 13 minutes.

However, La Rochelle’s fightback sparked just after the hour back, as Pierre Bourgarit dotted down amid a rumbling maul and West converted to bring the margin down to just a solitary point.

Ronan O’Gara’s side looked to have left themselves with too much to do, though, when Thomas Lavault was sin-binned for a trip and Ross Byrne, on for Sexton, slotted Leinster’s seventh penalty of the game.

But La Rochelle clung on for the period with 14 men and avoided conceding any further points, before launching an incredible late assault that would see them grab victory at the death.


Retiere, who had come on for the final quarter of an hour, provided the cutting edge, as he ducked through a tackle and planted down with two minutes to go, sending the La Rochelle fans into delirium.

West slotted the extras in the final act of a pulsating contest and left Leinster still searching for a record-equaling fifth title.