Stade Rochelais

Stade Rochelais (), commonly called La Rochelle, is a French professional rugby union club based in La Rochelle, France that competes in the Top 14. Founded in 1898 and wearing yellow and black, the club's first-team plays its home matches at Stade Marcel-Deflandre.

Alongside other French club Brive, La Rochelle is one of only two clubs that won the European Rugby Champions Cup (twice in its case; beating Leinster in both 2022 and 2023 finals) without succeeding in winning its domestic championship losing on both occasions against Toulouse in the final: the first time in 2021 and the second in 2023. Owned by several shareholders, including club president and coffee magnate Vincent Merling, the club is renowned for the fervour of its supporters and its continual sold-out home matches.

History 
Originally formed in 1898, Stade Rochelais won three regional Atlantic championships in the early part of the 20th century, qualifying them for the French Championship, where they reached the quarter-finals twice and the semi-finals once. The popularity of rugby league in the area lessened the number of available players, and in 1935 Stade Rochelais merged with neighbours Union Sportive Rochelaise. 

Occupation of La Rochelle by troops from Nazi Germany, accompanied by a banning of rugby league by the Vichy Government, forced the city's rugby league club La Rochelle-Etudiants XIII to also be merged into Stade Rochelais in 1941. This was overseen by club President Marcel Deflandre, who was later executed for his role as part of the French Resistance - the club's stadium is named Stade Marcel-Deflandre in his honour.

The club formed a school for training players and coaches in the 1950s, resulting in them reaching the French Championship quarter-finals three times in the 1960s. They were relegated in 1985, returning in 1997. They were again relegated in 2002, though they won the Challenge Yves du Manoir that same year. They retained the Challenge title the following year but were not promoted again until 2010. They spent one season in Top 16 before being relegated again. 

Les Maritimes came third in the 2013–14 Rugby Pro D2 season and were promoting after beating Agen in the play-off final.

Honours 
 Top 14
 Runners-up (2): 2020–21, 2022-23
 European Rugby Champions Cup
 Champions (2): 2021–22, 2022–23
 Runners-up (1): 2020–21
 EPCR Challenge Cup
 Runners-up (1): 2018–19
 Challenge Yves du Manoir
 Champions (2): 2002, 2003

Current standings

Current squad 

The La Rochelle squad for the 2022–23 season is:

Espoirs squad

The Stade Rochelais Espoirs squad is:

France results

Top 14 Championship Final

European results

European Rugby Champions Cup Final

Notable former players 

 Facundo Bosch
 Ramiro Herrera
 Germán Llanes
 Federico Todeschini
 Zack Holmes
 Brock James
 Ryan Lamb
 Lopeti Timani
 Julien Berger
 Jason Marshall
 Lesley Vainikolo
 Sireli Bobo
 Eneriko Buliruarua
 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
 Jules Plisson
 Dany Priso
 Vincent Rattez
 Arthur Retière
 David Roumieu
 Christophe Samson
 Laurent Simutoga
 Jérémy Sinzelle
 Rémi Talès
 Jean-Teiva Jacquelain
 Gagi Bazadze
 Guram Papidze
 Robert Mohr
 Gonzalo Canale
 Pietro Ceccarelli
 Leandro Cedaro
 Jason Eaton
 Hamish Gard
 Romana Graham
 David Raikuna
 Rene Ranger
 Victor Vito
 Ihaia West
 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.

Leadership and management
Vincent Merling, 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.

See also 
 List of rugby union clubs in France
 Rugby union in France

References

External links 
  Stade Rochelais Official website

 
La Rochelle
Rugby clubs established in 1898
Sport in La Rochelle