Stade Rochelais
Stade Rochelais (French pronunciation: [stad ʁɔʃlɛ]), commonly called La Rochelle, is a French rugby union club who compete in the Top 14.
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Full name | Stade Rochelais[1] | ||
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Nickname(s) | Les Corsaires (The Privateers) Les Maritimes (The Maritimes) | ||
Founded | 1898 | ||
Location | La Rochelle, France | ||
Ground(s) | Stade Marcel-Deflandre (Capacity: 16,000) | ||
President | Vincent Merling | ||
Coach(es) | Ronan O'Gara | ||
League(s) | Top 14 | ||
2020–21 | 2nd (runners up) | ||
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Official website | |||
www |
They were founded in 1898 and play at Stade Marcel-Deflandre (capacity 16,000). They wear yellow and black. They are based in La Rochelle in the Charente-Maritime département of the New Aquitaine region.
98% of the shares are owned by the Stade Rochelais Association.[2]
Stadium
The stadium is named after Marcel Deflandre, who was the president of the club born of the fusion between the rugby league and rugby union clubs during World War II in La Rochelle, after the Vichy government banned the game of Rugby League and forced all of its assets to be handed to the French Rugby Union.
Honours
- French championship
- Runners-up: 2021
- European Rugby Champions Cup
- Runners-up: 2021
- Challenge Yves du Manoir:
- Champions: 2002, 2003 (March)

Current standings
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Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points for | Points against | Points diff. | Tries for | Tries against | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Points | |||||
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1 | Bordeaux Bègles | 19 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 442 | 338 | +104 | 47 | 30 | 4 | 3 | 57 | ||||
2 | Montpellier | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 452 | 318 | +134 | 44 | 31 | 4 | 4 | 56 | ||||
3 | Lyon | 20 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 498 | 380 | +118 | 54 | 31 | 5 | 5 | 54 | ||||
4 | Castres | 20 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 420 | 447 | –27 | 44 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 54 | ||||
5 | Racing | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 492 | 463 | +29 | 50 | 49 | 1 | 2 | 51 | ||||
6 | La Rochelle | 19 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 485 | 332 | +153 | 55 | 32 | 5 | 5 | 50 | ||||
7 | Toulouse | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 403 | 311 | +92 | 44 | 31 | 4 | 1 | 48 | ||||
8 | Clermont | 19 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 482 | 428 | +54 | 50 | 42 | 4 | 4 | 44 | ||||
9 | Pau | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 424 | 497 | –73 | 37 | 55 | 1 | 2 | 41 | ||||
10 | Stade Français | 19 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 406 | 439 | –33 | 38 | 39 | 2 | 3 | 41 | ||||
11 | Brive | 20 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 347 | 477 | –130 | 32 | 49 | 3 | 4 | 37 | ||||
12 | Toulon | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 339 | 371 | –32 | 30 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 36 | ||||
13 | Perpignan | 20 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 379 | 529 | –150 | 36 | 60 | 2 | 4 | 34 | ||||
14 | Biarritz | 20 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 373 | 612 | –239 | 39 | 78 | 1 | 4 | 24 | ||||
If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
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Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2022–23 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup. Yellow background (rows 7 and 8) indicates teams outside the play-offs that also earn a place in the Champions Cup. Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2022–23 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Pink background (row 13) will qualify to the relegation play-offs. Red background (row 14) will automatically be relegated to 2022–23 Rugby Pro D2. Final table — source: Updated: 31 October 2021 | |||||||||||||||||
Current squad
The La Rochelle squad for the 2021–22 season is:[3]
Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.
Espoirs squad
The Stade Rochelais Espoirs squad is:[4]
Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.
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France results
French championship
Date | Winner | Runners-up | Score | Venue | Spectators |
25 June 2021 | Stade Toulousain | Stade Rochelais | 18–8 | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 14,000 |
European results
European Rugby Champions Cup Finals
Date | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Spectators |
22 May 2021 | Stade Toulousain | 22–17 | Stade Rochelais | Twickenham Stadium, London | 10,000 |
Notable former players
Germán Llanes
Federico Todeschini
Zack Holmes
Brock James
Ryan Lamb
Lopeti Timani
Julien Berger
Jason Marshall
Lesley Vainikolo
Sireli Bobo
Norman Ligairi
Kini Murimurivalu
Jone Qovu
Seru Rabeni
Alipate Ratini
Savenaca Rawaca
Albert Vulivuli
Marc Andreu
Julien Audy
Alexi Balès
Jean-Pascal Barraque
Steeve Barry
Pierre Bérard
Mohamed Boughanmi
Benoît Bourrust
Damien Cler
Thomas Combezou
Manoël Dall'igna
Benjamin Dambielle
Vincent Debaty
William Demotte
Geoffrey Doumayrou
Luc Ducalcon
Arnaud Élissalde
Jean-Baptiste Élissalde
Jean-Pierre Élissalde
Sébastien Fauqué
Lionel Faure
Romain Frou
Loann Goujon
Jean-Philippe Grandclaude
Gabriel Lacroix
Damien Lagrange
Grégory Lamboley
Benjamin Lapeyre
Benoit Lecouls
Henri Magois
Gérald Merceron
Jean Pambrun
Vincent Pelo
Julien Pierre
Vincent Rattez
David Roumieu
Christophe Samson
Laurent Simutoga
Rémi Talès
Jean-Teiva Jacquelain
Gagi Bazadze
Robert Mohr
Gonzalo Canale
Pietro Ceccarelli
Leandro Cedaro
Jason Eaton
Hamish Gard
Romana Graham
David Raikuna
Rene Ranger
Petrișor Toderașc
Alofa Alofa
Piula Faʻasalele
Tamato Leupolu
Ricky Januarie
Paul Jordaan
Arnaud, then his son Jean-Pierre and his grandson Jean-Baptiste all played for La Rochelle as scrum-halves.
Coaches
Well known former coaches include
- Arnaud Élissalde
- Jean-Pierre Élissalde
The club only had three head coaches from 1992-2017, including Patrice Collaco since 2011.[5]
Leadership and management
Vincent Marling, president as of 2017, had guided the club for 25 years. He was the driving force behind the “Grow Together” campaign launched in 2015 that persuaded 500 local businesses to support/sponsor the club.[6]
References
- "LA ROCHELLE : NOUVEAU NOM ET NOUVEAU LOGO POUR LE CLUB". Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- "Histoire du Club". July 2016.
- "Effectif". Stade Rochelais (in French). 7 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
- "Effectif Espors". Stade Rochelais. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
- "Europe's team of the season are coming to Murrayfield". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- "Europe's team of the season are coming to Murrayfield". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
External links
- (in French) Stade Rochelais Official website