3 DECIDING FACTORS

• La Rochelle won the gainline war and turned territorial superiority into ruthless finishing across both halves.
• Bordeaux's defensive misses around the fringes allowed Le Garrec and the La Rochelle attack to fracture the structure at will.
• The three-minute blitz either side of halftime buried Bordeaux before they could recover from a competitive first 40.

FINAL TAKE

La Rochelle leapfrogged a side five league points ahead with the sort of clinical statement performance that announces playoff intent. Bordeaux arrived fifth in the table and left humbled by a side that won the gainline, exploited the edges, and never allowed the visitors to stabilise after the halftime hurricane. Nolann Le Garrec orchestrated, finished, and converted with the composure that defines elite halfback play. Gregory Alldritt carried with the authority of a number eight who knows his pack has found form at exactly the right moment. Bordeaux's 20 defenders beaten flattered a performance that lacked the defensive discipline to contain La Rochelle's variety. The gap between fifth and eighth just closed.

PHASE PLAY & GAINLINE

La Rochelle won 79% of their carries at the gainline and turned that platform into 655 metres across 117 carries. Bordeaux managed 70% gainline success but could not convert territorial possession into points. The difference was not volume but violence. La Rochelle's gainline dominance created quick ball and fractured Bordeaux's defensive line early in phases. The visitors conceded 16 turnovers to La Rochelle's 16, but the home side's were spread across attacking sequences while Bordeaux's came under pressure in their own half.

La Rochelle's 3.45 carry efficiency rating dwarfed Bordeaux's 2.19. That gap tells the story of a side that attacked with purpose and a side that carried without penetration. Bordeaux beat 20 defenders to La Rochelle's 16, yet finished with two tries to six. The visitors' offload count of six compared to La Rochelle's 16 reveals a team unable to sustain the tempo required to stress a home defence that read the one-out patterns and closed the space.

The 221 passes from La Rochelle against Bordeaux's 132 reflects the control Nolann Le Garrec exerted from the base. His two bad passes and three turnovers conceded did not cost La Rochelle momentum because the platform ahead of him was relentless. Bordeaux's phase play lacked the same conviction. They carried hard in patches but could not string together the multi-phase pressure that would have tested La Rochelle's 129 tackles.

SET PIECE

La Rochelle won 10 of 12 lineouts for 83% success and conceded no steals. Bordeaux won 16 of 17 for 94% success and stole one La Rochelle throw. On paper, Bordeaux's lineout was superior. In practice, it did not matter. La Rochelle's scrum won five of six for 83% success while Bordeaux managed five of seven for 71%. The home scrum applied consistent pressure and forced Bordeaux into awkward exits under duress.

Bordeaux's maul won three of four but conceded a penalty. La Rochelle's maul won two of two and did not concede a try from the drive, but the set piece platform allowed them to launch attacks from stable possession. The visitors' superior lineout percentage could not compensate for the scrum's inability to secure clean ball when it mattered. La Rochelle's ruck efficiency of 94% matched Bordeaux's 95%, but the home side won 77 of 82 while Bordeaux won 82 of 86. Both packs recycled well. Only one knew how to finish.

Lineouts (success) 10/12 (83%) 16/17 (94%) Scrums 5/6 5/7 Rucks (efficiency) 77/82 (94%) 82/86 (95%)

KICKING Kicks from hand 24 23 Kick/pass ratio 0.11 0.17

BREAKDOWN

La Rochelle won five turnovers and conceded 16. Bordeaux won four and conceded 12. The home side's turnover count looks worse until you map it to their 53% possession and 117 carries. They conceded turnovers because they carried more and risked more in contact. Bordeaux's 12 turnovers conceded came from 90 carries, a higher rate of error under less overall pressure.

Gregory Alldritt made 13 tackles with one miss before his 51st-minute substitution. His presence at the breakdown was felt in La Rochelle's ability to slow Bordeaux ball and force hurried exits. Romain Gardrat made 10 tackles with one miss and scored Bordeaux's second try in the 58th minute, but could not generate the turnover pressure required to disrupt La Rochelle's rhythm. La Rochelle's 20 missed tackles compare unfavourably to Bordeaux's 16, but the home side's attacking variety meant they could afford occasional defensive lapses. Bordeaux could not.

Semi Lagivala conceded two turnovers and two bad passes but his three clean breaks and 76 metres carved open Bordeaux's midfield. His defensive misses — two from eight tackles — were costly in isolation but did not derail La Rochelle's overall structure. Bordeaux's inability to capitalise on La Rochelle's breakdown indiscipline reflects a team that competed without converting pressure into points.

DEFENSIVE AUDIT

Bordeaux missed 16 tackles from 114 attempted. La Rochelle missed 20 from 129. Both sides leaked defensive opportunities, but only La Rochelle punished the errors on the other side. Xan Mousques missed one of three tackles and conceded two turnovers despite scoring early and running for 54 metres. His defensive lapses around the fringes allowed Nolann Le Garrec to exploit the space at the base of rucks and score twice.

Dillyn Leyds missed one of four tackles but ran for 104 metres, made two clean breaks, and scored in the 43rd minute. His try came from a defensive misread by Bordeaux's edge defence that failed to cover the width La Rochelle generated from quick ruck ball. Hugo Reus missed one of four tackles and assisted once, but his goalkicking lapsed when it mattered — one conversion from two attempts left Bordeaux chasing a margin they could not close.

La Rochelle's defensive audit reveals a side willing to trade misses for attacking ambition. Bordeaux's reveals a side that missed tackles without generating the same offensive threat. The visitors' edge defence fractured repeatedly under La Rochelle's ability to shift the point of attack. Lachlan Swinton's 50th-minute substitution came too late to stabilise a defensive structure that had already conceded 31 points.

ATTACKING PATTERNS

La Rochelle scored six tries across six different scorers. Nolann Le Garrec crossed twice — in the 13th and 71st minutes — and his 65 metres came from two clean breaks that exposed Bordeaux's narrow fringe defence. Gregory Alldritt scored in the 24th minute from 34 metres of carrying that included three defenders beaten. His try came from sustained phase pressure that Bordeaux could not repel.

Semi Lagivala's 41st-minute try and Dillyn Leyds' 43rd-minute score either side of halftime buried Bordeaux. Those two tries in three minutes turned a 17-10 lead into a 31-10 rout. Thomas Berjon scored in the 64th minute after entering as a substitute, his 15 metres including one clean break and one defender beaten. La Rochelle's variety in attack — tight carries from Alldritt, wide breaks from Leyds, fringe exploitation from Le Garrec — overwhelmed a Bordeaux defence that could not adjust fast enough.

Bordeaux's two tries came from Xan Mousques in the 2nd minute and Romain Gardrat in the 58th. Mousques' early score gave Bordeaux a 7-0 lead, but they could not build on it. Gardrat's try arrived with the contest already decided. Bordeaux's 11 clean breaks to La Rochelle's two suggest attacking ambition, but their inability to convert breaks into tries reflects poor support lines and decision-making under pressure.

La Rochelle's kick-pass ratio of 0.11 reveals a side that kept the ball in hand and trusted their carriers. Bordeaux's 0.17 ratio shows a team that kicked more relative to their passing but could not exit cleanly or build territory from the boot. Hugo Reus kicked once from hand for every three passes, but his territorial kicking did not relieve the defensive pressure La Rochelle applied through phase play.

DISCIPLINE

La Rochelle conceded five penalties. Bordeaux conceded nine. The visitors' penalty count cost them territory and momentum. Bordeaux's maul conceded a penalty, their scrum creaked under pressure, and their defensive line strayed offside when La Rochelle built phase pressure. Neither side collected a card, but Bordeaux's nine penalties meant they spent long stretches defending in their own half without the ball.

Nolann Le Garrec kicked one penalty in the 5th minute and six conversions from six attempts. His goalkicking added 14 points to his two tries and one assist, a 25-point haul that reflects both precision and composure under no scoreboard pressure. Hugo Reus converted one of two and kicked one penalty from one attempt. His missed conversion in the 3rd minute — immediately after Xan Mousques' opening try — foreshadowed a performance that could not sustain early promise.

Bordeaux's nine penalties did not include a single yellow card, which suggests ill-discipline rather than cynical infringement. La Rochelle's five penalties came from a team controlling the contest and absorbing occasional breakdown pressure without panic. The penalty count gap of four does not tell the full story, but it reflects a Bordeaux side that could not maintain defensive structure without infringing.

Penalties conceded 5 9 Yellow cards 0 0

PERSONNEL VERDICTS

Nolann Le Garrec controlled this match with the authority of a halfback in command of every lever. Two tries, six conversions, one penalty, one assist, 65 metres, two clean breaks, five tackles with none missed. His 25-point contribution was more than La Rochelle's winning margin. His ability to read Bordeaux's fringe defence and score from close range defined the contest. This was a performance that reminded every playoff-bound side in the Top 14 why La Rochelle's halfback remains one of the most dangerous finishers in the competition.

Dillyn Leyds ran for 104 metres, scored once, assisted once, and made two clean breaks. His try in the 43rd minute came at the worst possible moment for Bordeaux, extending a 24-10 lead to 31-10 before the visitors could regroup. His one missed tackle from four did not cost La Rochelle a score. Gregory Alldritt made 13 tackles with one miss, scored once, and carried for 34 metres with three defenders beaten. His 51st-minute substitution came with the contest already decided. Semi Lagivala's 76 metres included three clean breaks and one try, his two missed tackles a minor blemish on a performance that fractured Bordeaux's midfield.

Xan Mousques scored early and ran for 54 metres with one clean break and four defenders beaten, but his two turnovers conceded and one missed tackle reflected a performance under pressure. Hugo Reus assisted once and ran for 55 metres, but his missed conversion and inability to generate attacking tempo left Bordeaux chasing shadows. Romain Gardrat scored in the 58th minute and made 10 tackles with one miss, a rare bright note in a Bordeaux performance that lacked the defensive discipline to trouble a La Rochelle side in full flow.

Thomas Berjon entered in the 64th minute and scored within seconds of touching the ball, his 15 metres including one clean break. Ihaia West conceded two turnovers and one bad pass, a performance that lacked the control Bordeaux needed at flyhalf. Valentin Hutteau's two bad passes and one turnover reflected a backline unable to execute under La Rochelle's defensive pressure.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE SEASON

La Rochelle sit eighth with 63 league points and a points difference of plus-129. Bordeaux sit fifth with 68 points and plus-111. The five-point gap remains, but La Rochelle's superior points difference and this 30-point demolition shift the psychological ledger. The playoff race tightens with every bonus point and thrashing. La Rochelle just delivered both.

Bordeaux's season hangs on their ability to recover defensive discipline before the final rounds. They conceded nine penalties, missed 16 tackles, and allowed La Rochelle to score six tries from 11 clean breaks. That is a structural failure. La Rochelle's season hangs on their ability to sustain this form. They have won the gainline battle, finished clinically, and shown the attacking variety that troubled sides at the top of the table earlier in the campaign.

The three-minute blitz either side of halftime — Lagivala in the 41st, Leyds in the 43rd — cost Bordeaux the contest and potentially the psychological edge in any playoff encounter between these sides. La Rochelle have announced themselves. Bordeaux have work to do.

STATS TABLE

Stade Rochelais Union Bordeaux-Begles ATTACK Possession 53% 47% Territory — — Carries · Metres 117 · 655 m 90 · 340 m Gain line % 79% 70% Clean breaks · Defenders beaten 11 · 16 2 · 20 CER 3.45 2.19

DEFENCE Tackles (missed) 129 (20) 114 (16) Turnovers (won / conceded) 5 / 16 4 / 12