Ronan O’Gara denied as Toulouse beat La Rochelle in Top 14 final

Outhalf Romain Ntamack scored a brilliant solo try three minutes from time as Toulouse snatched a dramatic 29-26 French Top 14 final victory over European champions La Rochelle in Paris on Saturday.

Ntamack broke through several La Rochelle tackles as he raced 65 yards to score the winning try, a moment of excellence to cap off a high-quality final that see-sawed one way and then the other.

Leinster had been hoping that La Rochelle would beat Toulouse in the French Top 14 final on Saturday because they would have joined Ronan O’Gara’s European champions, URC winners Munster and English Premiership champions Saracens as Tier One seeds for next season’s Champions Cup. Instead it is Tier Two as Toulouse claim the spot.

Toulouse extended their record number of Top 14 wins to 22 and denied La Rochelle their first. Centre Santiago Chocobares also crossed for a try in the opening half as the teams went to the break at 13-13.

The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times

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Scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow and prop Uini Atonio scored tries for La Rochelle, who trailed by 10 points in the opening period but rallied to lead going into the closing stages, but could not hold on for the win.