Siya Kolisi’s Racing 92 head to La Rochelle in the final round of the French Top 14’s regular season, aiming for the last two playoff spots.
Siya Kolisi’s Racing 92 travel to La Rochelle on Saturday for the final round of the French Top 14’s regular season, as one of five clubs vying for the remaining two playoff spots.
A win for Racing 92 on the Atlantic coast against fifth-placed La Rochelle would secure them a place in next weekend’s matches. The hosts, along with Perpignan, Castres, and Clermont, also have a chance to advance.
A defeat would leave Racing’s playoff hopes dependent on other results, risking their first playoff miss since their promotion to the Top 14 in 2009.
SIYA KOLISI LED THE SPRINGBOKS TO RUGBY WORLD CUP GLORY
Iconic back-rower Kolisi joined the sixth-placed Parisians this season after leading South Africa to a second straight Rugby World Cup last October.
“There are a lot of competitors in the team who are energized by the challenge,” Racing 92 head coach Stuart Lancaster told reporters on Thursday. “Now we’ve got to this point, all the work comes down to this weekend,” the former England coach added.
Adding to the drama, all the games start at the same time, and teams will be separated by their head-to-head record if they finish with the same number of points.
Seventh-placed Perpignan heads to Pau, eighth-placed Castres travel to Bayonne, and ninth-placed Clermont hosts struggling Montpellier.
“It’s pretty unique,” Lancaster said. “If you worry too much about what everyone else is doing, you lose focus on your own performance and lose the game,” he added.
LA ROCHELLE POWER
Former Leinster coach Lancaster takes the trip to Stade Marcel-Deflandre, where La Rochelle has lost just once in the league this season, with extra motivation.
La Rochelle and their giant pack, including prop Uini Atonio, lock Will Skelton, and No. 8 Gregory Alldritt, beat Lancaster’s Leinster in two straight Champions Cup finals, denying the Irish province a fifth title.
The defensive abilities of Kolisi, whose season has been hampered by injuries, to stop La Rochelle’s monstrous forwards, as well as Racing’s talented backs such as Fiji winger Josua Tuisova and France scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec, could be crucial in helping them to the playoffs.
“I have a lot of respect for La Rochelle because of my experiences at Leinster, how strong they are,” Lancaster said. “The power of Skelton and Atonio together and Alldritt’s a world-class player. They have a lot of options,” added the 54-year-old in his first season in charge of Racing.
For Pau, chasing a Champions Cup berth for next season, former New Zealand lock Sam Whitelock is set to play the final game of his illustrious career, having bowed out of Test rugby after last year’s World Cup final defeat to Kolisi’s Springboks.
Also, leaders Toulouse, who are already guaranteed a semi-final berth, head to Lyon with scrum-half Antoine Dupont rested, having won the Champions Cup and the World Rugby Sevens event in Madrid in the space of eight days.
Third-placed Toulon can claim a surprise last-four spot if they beat second-placed Stade Francais, after a stuttering season which included a run of three straight league defeats in February.
Toulon’s trip to Paris comes almost a decade to the day since their star-studded side, including Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Giteau, and Bakkies Botha, claimed a Champions Cup and Top 14 double.
Elsewhere in French rugby this weekend, Grenoble plays Vannes in the final of the second-tier ProD2 for promotion to the top flight.
The loser of Saturday’s game in Toulouse will get a second chance of moving up when they play Montpellier in the promotion playoff on June 16.
