Match Centre: Champions Cup: La Rochelle 45-12 Leicester
Will Skelton was one of the try scorer for La Rochelle
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La Rochelle 45-12 Leicester, Pool 4, Stade Marcel Deflandre
La Rochelle scored a seven-try riot as they trounced Leicester Tigers 45-12 in the latest round of the Investec Champions Cup at Stade Marcel Deflandre on Sunday.
The win has taken La Rochelle to the fourth place in Pool 4 table and now they will be facing Sale next as they look to progress to the round of 16 while Leicester are at third place.
La Rochelle dominated the opening exchanges as Pierre Bourgarit touched down at the back of a powerful rolling maul and Antoine Hastoy kicked the conversion but their momentum was hampered by the 12th minute with Ultan Dillane sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Josh Bassett.
Leicester had a chance to open their account but Jamie Shillcock's drop goal drifted wide in the 13th minute and just as La Rochelle returned back to full strength as Will Skelton broke away from the back and barged his way through defenders for their second try and Hastoy kicked the extras to make it 14-0.
The end of the first half saw George Martin and UJ Seuteni exchange tries as the teams headed into the break with a 21-7 scoreline.
La Rochelle extended their momentum into the second half as Teddy Thomas secured the bonus point but they soon went down to 13 players with Skelton and Jonathan Danty in successive minutes. Despite being down on the numerical advantage, replacement prop Joel Sclavi crashed over at the back of a ruck before Thomas completed his second making it 40-7 heading into the final 10 minutes.
The final seven minutes saw UJ Seuteni and Dan Kelly trade tries but La Rochelle went on to complete a 33 point victory to keep their hope alive.
Team line up:
La Rochelle: Dulin; Thomas, Seuteni, Danty, Leyds; Hastoy, Kerr-Barlow; Wardi, Bourgarit, Atonio, Dillane, Skelton, Boudehent, Botia, Alldritt (capt).
Reserves: Lespiaucq, Sclavi, Kuntelia, Picquette, Cancoriet, Tanga, Berjon, Reus.
Leicester Tigers: Brown; Simmons, Kelly, Kata, Bassett; Shillcock, Youngs; Cronin, Montoya (capt), Cole, Martin, Chessum, Rogerson, Cracknell, Hatherell.
Reserves: Theobald-Thomas, Van Wyk, Heyes, Carter, Wiese, Whiteley, Pollard, Scott.
