Into the breach once more for Ronan O'Gara and La Rochelle, as they prepare for a sixth meeting with Leinster in five Champions Cup seasons.
O'Gara's then-minnows sprung a surprise with their shock win over Leinster in the 2021 semi-final, before repeating the trick in back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023 to firmly assert themselves as proper European heavyweights.
Last season, however, brought a turn in the tide. Leinster took a hard-fought pool stage victory on the road in La Rochelle, before dismantling the French side in Dublin in the quarter-finals.
13 April 2024; La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara during the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final match between Leinster and La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Remarkably, the draw has yet again paired these two sides together, with the Stade Marcel Déflandre the venue once again for Sunday's pool stage clash.
Leinster are flying high, with a flawless 100% record thus far in both URC and Champions Cup. With the services of overseas megastars RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett to call on, Leo Cullen's side have become an even more daunting prospect this season.
La Rochelle are certainly one team who have not been daunted by Leinster in the past but their domestic form has not exactly set the world alight this campaign. They currently sit sixth in the Top 14 table, 14 points behind leaders Bordeaux.
Much of the damage was done earlier in the season, and the two-time European champions have been on a good run of form in recent weeks, adding to the intrigue surrounding Sunday's matchup.
This season has been one of the biggest tests of Ronan O'Gara's coaching career thus far, and the Munster legend admitted this week that he may have taken his "tough love" of the La Rochelle squad too far earlier in the campaign.
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Ronan O'Gara honest about La Rochelle's difficult start to season
Writing in his Irish Examiner column ahead of Leinster's trip to La Rochelle, Ronan O'Gara addressed the tough start his side had endured to the season.
O'Gara stressed that the team had managed to turn the tide, even if performances have still been inconsistent in recent weeks. Nonetheless, the Corkonian admitted that he had gone "too far" in pushing the players during the more difficult period earlier this season.
We have won four or our last five games, but you’d think we’d lost four. Brutal stuff. But in any fair appraisal, we must be honest too.
I went hard on the players for a few weeks, trying to drive standards, but for this group, I went too far, and instead they lost confidence. I need to give them hugs now. Rein myself in. Tough love doesn’t work on everybody. I know I’ve just gotten a bit negative there for a while, and I am looking to get back into that good vein of form.
It is a frank admission from O'Gara, who has had to endure a more difficult spell since the 2023 Champions Cup triumph than in his first few seasons in charge of La Rochelle.
Another victory over Leinster this Sunday would certainly be a major statement of intent from La Rochelle and shake up the picture of this season's competition.
Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle host Leinster this Sunday, with kick-off at 3:15pm. The game is live on Premier Sports.
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