Since the victory of La Rochelle against the English de Sale on Saturday April 10, France was guaranteed to have three representatives in the semi-finals of the Champions Cup, the European Rugby Cup. At the end of the last two 100% French quarter-finals, Sunday, it was Bordeaux-Bègles and Toulouse who won the other two tickets, defeating Racing and Clermont respectively.
Three French clubs in the semi-finals, this success is rare but not unprecedented: this scenario has already occurred during three seasons, in 1998, 1999 and 2005. However, only the 2005 edition ended with the coronation. of a tricolor club, with the final victory of Toulouse against the French stadium.
We must therefore not underestimate the power of nuisance of the other member of the last square, the Leinster. The Irish beat English title holders Exeter on Saturday.
The semi-finals – the first weekend in May – will see La Rochelle and Leinster clash, while Toulouse will host Bordeaux-Bègles.
- Clermont-Toulouse: 12-21
The rain which fell heavily on the Marcel-Michelin stadium somewhat extinguished the flamboyant game of the Toulouse Stadium, but the leaders of the Top 14, the French championship, held their rank by winning in Clermont (21-12).
The Rouge et Noir took more than half time to gain the upper hand over the Auvergnats, the time in particular that Romain Ntamack set the sights on the foot after two first failures. The “Jaunards” led most of the first period, before being overtaken because of their lack of discipline, as too often in recent meetings.
Passed on the wire on the field of the English Wasps a week ago in the round of 16, thanks to a try in stoppage time (27-25), the partners of the Japanese Kotaro Matsushima did not, this time, not managed to recover their delay in the last minutes: a missed penalty from Morgan Parra sounded the death knell for Clermont’s hopes.
By winning a field where they had not won since 2002, the Toulouse have confirmed their status as favorites of the competition. They have never lost against a French club in the European Cup finals, a particularly interesting statistic this year.
- Bordeaux-Bègles – Racing 92: 24-21
The second time was good. At the end of a tough match, punctuated by numerous technical faults, the Bordelais remained focused to snatch their qualification at the expense of Racing. They initially believed they had won the match for the first time after a try from Yoram Moefana, who stole the oval in a ruck a second from the siren. After a long wait, the video referees finally refused the test for a fault on Bordeaux soil, bringing the two teams back to equality (21-21).
The Racingmen, unhappy finalists of the last edition, tried to force the decision before extra time. It was wrong for them: they were ultimately the ones who were punished. More than 50 meters in front of the poles, but with the wind at his back, Matthieu Jalibert did not tremble to offer the first semi-final of the UBB in the Champions Cup.
The opener scored all the points for his team and rose to the challenge in a closed game, far from the surges of both teams last weekend against Bristol or Edinburgh.
” We knew it was a boxing match. We take a last uppercut, it puts us more than on the ground, it knocks us out. », Regretted the coach of Racing 92, Laurent Travers, who was deprived of his French internationals Bernard Le Roux, Virimi Vakatawa and Teddy Thomas, injured.
- La Rochelle – Sale 45-21
Jostled during the first forty of the match (18-16 at the break), the Rochelais then freed themselves on Saturday to shut down the third team in the English championship and open the doors to the semi-finals of the Champions Cup for the first time in their history.
The South African Raymond Rhule donned the costume of the hero of this match: the winger scored two tries in the first quarter of an hour of the second period to free his La Rochelle partners. He played a terrible trick on his compatriots, present in large numbers in the opposing jersey. But the cohort of world champions were not to their advantage, like scrum-half François de Klerk, whose loss of the ball on a two-on-one led to a La Rochelle try just before half-time. .
