1 year ago
39
UJ Seuteni scored 1 of his side's 4 tries successful the archetypal half| La Rochelle:(26) 47 |
| Tries: Rhule 2, Seuteni, Alldritt, Kerr-Barlow 2, Bourgarit Cons: Hastoy 6 |
| Exeter Chiefs: (7) 28 |
| Tries: S Simmonds, Iosefa-Scott, Woodburn, Yeandle Cons: J Simmonds 4 |
Exeter Chiefs' bid to scope the Champions Cup last was ended by a ruthless semi-final show by holders La Rochelle successful Bordeaux.
Sam Simmonds gave Exeter an aboriginal pb but Raymond Rhule, UJ Seuteni, Gregory Aldritt and Tawera Kerr-Barlow gave the hosts a commanding 26-7 half-time lead.
Rhule and Kerr-Barlow some scored again and Pierre Bourgarit besides went implicit arsenic the hosts ran Exeter ragged.
Josh Iosefa-Scott, Olly Woodburn and Jack Yeandle replied for Exeter.
Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle volition look Leinster - the squad they bushed to assistance the trophy past twelvemonth - successful the last successful Dublin connected 20 May.
Exeter undone by La Rochelle power
With truthful galore Exeter players acceptable to permission the nine astatine the extremity of the season, their European Cup tally was billed arsenic the past creation for the squad that lifted the trophy successful 2020.
Number 8 Simmonds, 1 of the standout stars from that triumph, gave Exeter the cleanable commencement by bursting implicit from adjacent range.
But the hosts, backed by a raucous assemblage astatine a packed retired Matmut Atlantique stadium, responded astir immediately. Left helping Raymond Rhule sped onto a deft footwear into bare space, hacked connected and dived implicit the line.
La Rochelle's elephantine battalion took power of the game, dominating the scrum and the breakdown, and centre Sueteni's angled tally done a spread successful Exeter's defence enactment the hosts into the lead.
Olly Woodburn enactment his assemblage connected the enactment to clasp up Gregory Alldritt's assertion for a try, but Exeter's chances were dealt a immense stroke erstwhile hooker Dan Frost was sent to the sin-bin for bringing down a maul.
With the Chiefs down to 14, France fig 8 Alldritt picked up the shot from the basal of a scrum and waltzed implicit unopposed connected the blind-side and past Tawera Kerr-Barlow finished disconnected a superb squad determination to notch the hosts' 4th effort conscionable earlier the interval.
La Rochelle amusement people successful carnival atmosphere
Exeter 's hopes of a second-half comeback did not past agelong arsenic Antoine Hastoy's cross-field footwear recovered Rhule successful abstraction and the helping dived implicit for his 2nd try.
Hooker Bourgarit was adjacent to interaction down pursuing a line-out maul arsenic the hosts clinched their spot successful the last for a 3rd consecutive twelvemonth with astir 40 minutes remaining.
With the assemblage - dominated by La Rochelle fans - creating a carnival atmosphere, the French broadside showed each their attacking flair with a superb sixth try.
Player of the lucifer Seuteni produced a no-look 30-yard walk to kick-start a flowing determination featuring exhilarating offloads and fancy footwork that ended with scrum-half Kerr-Barlow powering implicit for his 2nd try.
To their credit, Exeter did not wholly illness and scored 3 tries to springiness their fans thing to cheer, but the brilliance of La Rochelle's show sets up a imagination last against a Leinster broadside galore person seen arsenic favourites for the rubric each season.
Line-ups
La Rochelle: Dulin; Leyds, Seuteni, Favre, Rhule; Hastoy, Kerr-Barlow; Wardi, Bourgarit, Atonio, Sazy, Skelton, Dillane, Botia, Alldritt (capt).
Replacements: Lespiaucq, Sclavi, Colombe Reazel, Lavault, Boudehent, Bourdeau, Berjon, Thomas.
Exeter: Wyatt; Nowell (capt), Slade, O'Brien, Woodburn; J Simmonds, Becconsall; Sio, Frost, Street, Kirsten, Gray, Vermeulen, Tshiunza, S Simmonds.
Replacements: Yeandle, Abuladze, Iosefa-Scott, Davis, Ewers, Townsend, Skinner, Hogg
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
English (US)