THIS WEEKEND IS a rare chance for the Irish provinces to enjoy an in-season rest given that there is no URC action. Yet all four teams are still working hard this week as they look towards the resumption of the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup pool stages next weekend. Here, we take a look at what each of them face in the last two rounds of pool games.
Leo Cullen’s men are preparing for what should be the best Champions Cup game of this season so far as they visit La Rochelle on Sunday week. Leinster suffered the pain of back-to-back defeats to the French side in the 2022 and 2023 finals of the competition, having also lost a semi-final in La Rochelle in 2021. But last season felt like an important step in the rivalry as Leinster won at Stade Marcel Deflandre in a brutal group-stage battle in the rain before a resounding 40-13 battering of Ronan O’Gara’s team in the quarter-finals.
Those wins didn’t lead to a title but Leinster certainly enjoyed turning the tide. As with last season, La Rochelle’s form has been up-and-down in the Top 14, where they’re currently sixth, and they have a huge game at home against Toulouse this Saturday, a real contrast to Leinster’s weekend off. O’Gara’s men have two wins from two in the Champions Cup so far, a good win away to Bath and a bonus-point victory at home against Bristol, so they clearly plan not to be left in the tricky spot they were last season when two pool-stage defeats meant they had to travel to South Africa in .