ourla wrote:Robespierre wrote:Part of me would like Clermont to win the Brennus, but the fairytale win would be that of La Rochelle and would be on a par with Leicester City's triumph last year.
Out of interest how have they managed to do this? Owners, coaches, shrewd player recruitment or a combination? What is the fan base like?
I've had to do a bit of googling so here goes:
La Rochelle or Stade Rochelais as they are known here, were promoted to the Top14 in 2014/15 so they are relatively new.
Their coach is former prop Patricio Collazo (2 spells with Glaws and 1 solitary cap for Les Bleus) who is really making a name for himself, and he is supported by Xavier Garbajosa (former winger with Toulouse and France).
In the squad there are few household names - among those you may have heard of are prop Atonio, Gourdon in the back row (both in the French team this season) and Brock James (ex Clermont).
Yes, I think you can say that their player recruitment has been shrewd as they finished the season seven points clear at the top and only lost 6 games.
The big questions are, did they peak too soon and can they go all the way and become champions with solid teams like Clermont, Toulon and Montpellier still in with a shout (as are Castres and Racing, but I can't see either of them winning their play-offs).
As far as the fan base is concerned, they apparently have an average home crowd of 10,000 - fewer than Clermont and Toulon, for example.
The semi-finals are to be played on the 26th and 27th in Marseille.
