The Maritime ship sees the Promised Land. On Saturday 22 May, Stade Rochelais will play, in the English lair of Twickenham, the final of the European Rugby Cup (5:45 p.m. French time). Opposed to the Toulouse Stadium, quadruple winner of the competition, the teammates of Grégory Alldritt are getting closer to their “Grail”. A progression under full sail for a club that rose to the top level only seven years ago.
“When you know the entire history of the club, being in the European Cup final is an absolute big bang. In more than one hundred and twenty years of existence, the Stade Rochelais has entered the French Top 8 only ten times “, enthuses Jean-Pierre Elissalde, emblematic former player and coach of the club. “But if you only look at the last five years, it’s anything but a surprise. The stadium [rochelais] has arrived at an incredible level of performance, and it makes sense to find it there. “ For the former international scrum-half whose family history is inextricably linked to that of the Maritimes – his father, uncle and son also defended the La Rochelle colors -, the “Consistent progression” and the “Very good management” from the club to the caravel have led the latter to the summits of the continental Ovalie.
Except for one season, partly attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic, the action plan unveiled at the end of June 2016, entitled “Writing our 2020 story”, finds its concretization in this final. Because, in La Rochelle, changes of course are rare. “Stability is a quality of our institution”, highlights Vincent Merling. Successively “Player, educator, leader, then president” of the Yellow and Black, the business manager firmly holds the bar of the club. In June, he will celebrate his thirty years at the head of the Stade Rochelais – by far the oldest president of the Top 14 – and do not forget “Much more difficult times”.
“For years, we were really ‘the club of the North’ and we were forced to live away from the world of rugby, remembers Vincent Merling. This is what has built a different club identity. “ In the background, the president finds there the soul of the city of La Rochelle, turned towards the ocean, of Protestant and rebellious tradition.
Bayern Munich model
“Here, we have 600 partners, it’s a very collective model”, explains Pierre Venayre, the general manager of the club – also a former player. A model quite distant also from the functioning of most other French clubs, often supported by a major partner (or owner). The leaders of La Rochelle, who have been working together for nearly fifteen years, went to see what other sports were doing. And were inspired in particular by the Bayern Munich shareholding system to develop their ambitious project.
With stability as the watchword, the Maritimes have built up a top-notch workforce and, like any port city, benefited from external contributions. “Bringing world-famous players to La Rochelle, at the beginning, it almost surprised us”, smiles Vincent Merling. When the double world champion of the All Blacks Victor Vito agreed to embark on the adventure, in 2016, the Rochelais understood that their club had changed size.
With state-of-the-art infrastructure and a backbone of players regularly called up to the French team, assisted by international stars, the Stade Rochelais has not burned the stages. “We made the choice to structure things in depth and not to concentrate all our resources on the payroll, slips Pierre Venayre. Maybe we could have built a better team faster, but it would have been much more fleeting and risky. “
Today even their opponents praise the progress of the Maritimes. “It’s a hypersan, well-built club, greeted Toulouse coach Ugo Mola this week. Frankly, if we weren’t [en finale], I would be a supporter of La Rochelle. “ And to anticipate a rivalry in the years to come: “They’re giving off something. I find it hard to see how we will not meet again during the next two to three seasons in matches that will count. “
Because now, La Rochelle is aiming for the stars. “Ronan’s arrivals [O’Gara] and Jono [Gibbes] allowed us to uncap our dreams and ambitions ”, relates Pierre Venayre. The Irish coach, who has had his fair share of finals as a player, insists on the importance of“Stop setting limits” and struggles to “Gradually eliminate this limited ambition”. “It’s difficult when you patiently build a project from the Pro D2 [la deuxième division professionnelle] to allow oneself to consider that one has the right to win “, underlines the general manager of the club.
Arrived in 2019, O’Gara brought his culture of winning to the city of La Rochelle. “La Rochelle is not a club used to winning big titles, and that’s why I emphasized that I was not there to participate. It is not negotiable, whatever the match “, wrote, at the end of April, the former opening half of the XV du Trèfle in a weekly column he keeps in theIrish Examiner.
“A sustainable performance system”
To realize the ambitions of Stade Rochelais, all that is missing is a trophy. Because since its creation in 1898 – with the exception of two League Cups (2002 and 2003), an ephemeral competition created at the turn of the 2000s – the Maritime winners are more a blank page than a history book. “Winning the first title is important because it will make us definitely credible in the Landerneau of rugby, insists Pierre Venayre. But our ambition is to build a club capable of stringing together these performances. “ And avoid going down as quickly as they went up: “Ronan talks about it often, he wants to build a sustainable performance system. “
But be careful not to capsize when it makes landfall. Saturday, the Rochelais face the corecordman of the number of continental titles, the Toulouse Stadium. “A final is not the story of one club facing another, but a team that faces another”, slice Jean-Pierre Elissalde, who sees his “Small” slightly favorites. Especially since Toulouse will be deprived of several key players, such as Yoann Huget and Sofiane Guitoune, injured, or captain Julien Marchand, suspended. “The Toulouse Stadium may have four stars embroidered on the jersey, but the Stade [rochelais], he has a four-star recruitment. And the story doesn’t matter. “
Except for those who hold the pen. “For all those who have brought the club to the highest level and perpetuated it there, we deserve the supreme award, breathes Vincent Merling. Finally, a first big trophy in the more than 100 years history of this club. “ All La Rochelle hopes to see his club arrive safely.
A sixth Franco-French duel
The match, Saturday 22 May between Stade Rochelais and Stade Toulouse in Twickenham is the 6e Franco-French duel in the final of the European Rugby Cup. A specialty even for the players of the Pink City, who won 3 of their four titles against clubs from France: against Perpignan in 2003, the Stade Français in 2005 and the Olympic Biarritz in 2010.
RC Toulon is the other French executioner of the fratricidal finals. During his three-year reign on European rugby (from 2013 to 2015), Mourad Boudjellal’s men have twice beaten (2013 and 2015) the Jaunards of Clermont Auvergne, eternal Poulidor – like Racing 92 – of European rugby : three finals, all lost.
On the list of the European Rugby Cup, the French clubs will therefore have nine victories in 26 editions.