Hastoy made no mistake with the extras to leave it 26-7 at half-time in Bordeaux, where the majority of the raucous 41,204-strong crowd were bedecked in the black and yellow of La Rochelle. More was to come with Frost still binned as Kiwi scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow finished off a flowing offloading move with Exeter at sixes and sevens in defence. La Rochelle made the English side pay immediately after the carding, the ubiquitous Alldritt going over unfettered from a scrum five metres from the line. Hastoy converted and was also successful after a second try by Australian centre and man-of-the-match Ulupano Seuteni, who sailed through a gap after a Gregory Alldritt turnover deep in Exeter territory.Įxeter then leaked two converted tries while down to 14 men after hooker Dan Frost was yellow carded after 30 minutes for collapsing a maul. La Rochelle hit straight back, however, livewire South African winger Raymond Rhule gathering a clever Hastoy grubber after a break by Julien Favre.

There remains one match for us.' Hastoy told BeIN Sport.Īt the Matmut Atlantique in Bordeaux, which will host five matches at this year's Rugby World Cup, it was Exeter who opened the scores, No 8 Sam Simmonds driven over for a try after the English side dominated early possession and territory, converted by his brother Joe. Leinster are a monster team, always present for the big matches. 'When it gets to knock-out rugby, the squad gets into this mode. 'The goal was to come back to this competition and win it again,' said La Rochelle fly-half Antoine Hastoy, who converted six of his team's seven tries. Leinster, with O'Gara's successor in the Irish No.10 shirt Jonny Sexton out injured, are a side packed full of well-drilled Ireland internationals capable of punishing any side on their day - they hammered Top 14 leaders Toulouse 41-22 in their semi-final on Saturday. It promises to be an entertaining affair given La Rochelle's attractive high-tempo, offloading game-plan masterminded by coach Ronan O'Gara, the former Ireland fly-half who twice won the Cup with Munster.

Kicking Goals Journal by Sam Kerr