Little Cheslin Kolbe (right) escapes all opponents. Photo: Imago
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By Claus-Peter Bach
Heidelberg. Tomorrow, Saturday at 5.45 p.m., the RFU Ground in Twickenham in south-west London will once again be the scene of a major rugby match. In the “Home of Rugby”, the scene of the 1991 World Cup final between England and Australia (6:12) and home stadium of the English national team, the two best French clubs of today face each other in the final of the European with RC Rochelais-Atlantique and Stade Toulousain Champions Cup opposite. La Rochelle would like to win the cup for the first time, the 20-time national champion Toulouse is aiming for the fifth title after 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. The game will be broadcast live on France 2, BBC and ITV.
The Stade Toulousain, founded in 1907, won its first French championship title in 1912 and has been owned by the Bouclier de Brennus since 2019, as the 2019/20 championship was canceled due to the coronavirus. Toulouse leads the table in the top 14 league with 73 points two game days before the end and is coached by 47-year-old ex-international Ugo Mola, a homegrown family whose family runs a brasserie in the heart of the pink city. Stade Toulousain sends a small selection of the world into the final, which includes six current French internationals: goalkeeper Maxime Médard, connector Romain N’Tamack, scrum half Antoine Dupont, flank striker François Cros, front row pillar Cyril Baille and Hakler Julien Marchard. The latter was banned after the 21: 9 semi-final victory over Leinster for foul play by later video evidence. Other aces are captain Jerome Kaino, New Zealand’s 2011 and 2015 world champion, the two 2.08 meter tall Australian second-row twins Richie and Rory Arnold, the Australian inner three-quarter Zack Holmes, his New Zealand neighbor Pita Akhi and outer three-quarter Cheslin Kolbe, world champion 2019 with South Africa and one of the greatest attractions of the world rugby.
La Rochelle, which captained the German international Robert Mohr in the top 14 in 2014 and which is second in the league with 72 points, is also international. Irish coach Ronan O’Gara, a British and Irish Lions liaison from 2001, 2005 and 2009, has five French internationals on the team: goalkeeper Brice Dulin, inside Geoffrey Dumayron, cross striker Gregory Alldritt, hackler Pierre Bourgarit and pillar Uisi Atonio. There are also All Black number 1103 Victor Vito as a striker, the Australian second row striker Will Skelton (2.03 m and 140 kg), Levani Botia inner quarter from the Fiji Islands, who is nicknamed “Demolition Man”, as well the half-players Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Ihaja West, who were U20 world champions with New Zealand.
Kolbe dares to look forward and says: “It will be a nerve battle.”
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