Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Juan Cruz Mallía and David Ainu’u are European Champions Cup winners. The Argentine center and USA Eagles prop were a part of Toulouse’s 22-17 win over La Rochelle this afternoon. Toulouse’s win gives the giants of France’s south-west a record fifth European Champions Cup title.
The match was a cliffhanger. La Rochelle managed to stay in the game until the death despite having lost a player to a first half red card. The 27th minute incident saw Levani Botia sent off for making direct shoulder to head contact in a tackle. Toulouse’s Rynhardt Elstadt was yellow carded four minutes later.
The two cards were demonstrative of how combative the opening half was. All the scoring came via kicks at goal. Romain Ntamack landed three for Toulouse and Ihaia West was on target with four for La Rochelle.
La Rochelle’s 12-9 half-time lead lasted until the 46th minute. Ntamack’s fourth penalty drew the scores level. The defining moment came 13 minutes later. Argentine Juan Cruz Mallía went over for the decisive score. The Córdoba mid-fielder combined with Selevasio Tolofua. He received an offload before accelerating to avoid a tackle and then split two defenders.
Ntamack converted and added a penalty in the 69th minute. La Rochelle needed a response. It came quickly. Following an advancing maul wherein Puma Facundo Bosch controlled the ball at the tail, La Rochelle went within inches of scoring. Quick play then saw Tawera Kerr-Barlow diving over. West missed the conversion which meant La Rochelle needed a further try.
Toulouse held on for the win. The title is Toulouse’s fifth overall and first in eleven years. The last victory saw Patricio Albacete and Alberto Vernet Basualdo becoming Champions Cup winners. Mallía joined them today while Ainu’u gives USA props a European double this weekend. Titi Lamositele won the European Challenge Cup on Friday with Montpellier.
