La Rochelle face off against Leinster yet again in the Champions Cup this weekend in the Aviva Stadium. While the rivalry has been dominated by La Rochelle, Leinster will be have a serious advantage because of La Rochelle's less than ideal travel itinerary.
Due to their losses against Leinster and Stormers in the pool stages of the Champions Cup, Ronan O'Gara's men had an away tie for the Round of 16 and they faced off against the Stormers once again last Saturday.
The back-to-back champions travelled to Cape Town for the clash and came out on top 22-21 after Mannie Libbock's conversion to win the match went wide. The Stormers had let a 16-0 lead slip away and Ronan O'Gara's men kept chipping away before a try from replacement prop Joel Sclavi ultimately proved to be the winning score.
La Rochelle's Crazy Travel Schedule Ahead of Leinster Clash
In a report from L'Équipe today they documented La Rochelle's crazy travel schedule over the past week. After their Top 14 win over Oyonnax on March 30th, La Rochelle had to travel to Paris before taking an over 10.5 hour flight to Johannesburg, before hopping on another two hour flight to Cape Town for their match against the Stormers.
After their win Leinster beat Leicester 36-22 to secure a home quarter-final against the back-to-back champions. La Rochelle repeated the same 12 and a half hour journey back to Paris before getting straight onto a plane to Cork so they can prepare for the whole week in Ronan O'Gara's home soil. After all of that L'Équipe estimated that the journeys totalled over 21,000km.
La planète, la santé des joueurs, priorité de @ChampionsCup_FR qu’ils disaient 🤡 #STOvSR #LEIvSR #FievreSR pic.twitter.com/MflXBontAv
— Rochelais 17 💛🖤⭐️⭐️ (@17_rochelais) April 9, 2024
It's the most extreme example of how this new formatted Champions Cup with the inclusion of South African teams causes mad travel times and less than ideal conditions for professional athletes. Let's hope it doesn't effect the quality of the action on the field this Saturday.
SEE ALSO: La Rochelle Stars Prepare For Leinster Showdown By Playing Munster Anthem
