Ronan O'Gara and La Rochelle were denied a historic double last night as the Heineken Champions Cup winners fell to a dramatic Top 14 final defeat to Toulouse at the Stade de France.
Toulouse won the game in the dying minutes as Romain Ntamack scored a sensational try in the 78th minute, breaking through tackles during a 65 yard run, which was subsequently converted, as his side walked away with a 29-26 victory.
Just extraordinary #ntamackpic.twitter.com/RfkEdEVpSs
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) June 17, 2023
It is the 22nd time that Toulouse have won the Top 14 as La Rochelle missed out on their first.
The sides had been evenly matched in the first half, 13-13 as they headed in at the break.
La Rochelle did well to come back into the game having been ten down at one stage but were ultimately outdone in the closing stages.
Needless to say the Ntamack and Toulouse were overjoyed upon hearing the final whistle.
"To score a winning try in the Top 14 final, especially for this club, I don't even know if I dreamed of it when I was little… In any case, it has become a reality today. I'm super proud and happy. I am also relieved for the club," he said after the game.
"There's no better feeling than having all your friends jumping on you, seeing them all crying, hugging each other… We play for those moments.
"I think it's the first time I've cried after a game. All the tension and stress came out all at once."
While Ntamack's reaction was one of delight, O'Gara on the other hand seemed quite dejected when speaking to media at full-time.
🎙️ Ronan O’Gara après la finale :
« Non ce n’était pas un grand Stade Toulousain ! » pic.twitter.com/8BIDq9LLPA— Sud Radio Rugby (@SudRadioRugby) June 17, 2023
Ronan O'Gara dejected after La Rochelle defeat
"It's an average team facing us that profited from our mistakes," he said.
"Suffice to say, it's an enormous "statoos" and I'm not okay with that.
"No no no, just to be clear, I can accept defeat if they had scored four "bozes" but we didn't see that."
Many French rugby fans were not impressed with O'Gara's tone in this interview, with a few calling it a 'Thibaut Courtois moment'
Il a changé Courtois https://t.co/tNwt1GZA5t
— Rémi ☘️🇪🇺 (@rem75000) June 18, 2023
Thibault Courtois style https://t.co/Svu6QgwcOd
— Nico D. @[email protected] (@inge_cata) June 18, 2023
On a trouvé notre @thibautcourtois du 🏉 #SeumMan
Heureusement que ses joueurs sont plus smart Bravo le @staderochelais pour cette finale et vive les 🔴⚫️ # FinaleTOP14— Thierry Defait (@Defait) June 18, 2023
The final tweet translates as "We found our Thibaut Courtois."
The context here for the Courtois dig is the 2018 World Cup semifinal when France defeated Belgium. Courtois was not a gracious loser and accused France of playing anti-football.
I would have preferred to have lost in the quarter-finals to Brazil, at least that was a team that wanted to play football. [France] are just an anti-football team.”
“I prefer to lose with this Belgium than win with this France. But they do defend strongly and are very efficient. We have not found their weak point. That little moment of magic needed to score was not there.”
France went on to win the World Cup.
While La Rochelle got over the line against Leinster in the Champions Cup final last month, this latest result had significance for the Irish province when it comes to next year's competition.
Leinster will now be amongst the tier two sides in the pool stage draw on Wednesday.
A La Rochelle win would've seen Leo Cullen's men join O'Gara's side, Munster and Saracens as top seeds.
SEE ALSO: Ireland's World Cup Warm-Up Games: Fixture Details And Ticket Info
