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

 * European Rugby Champions Cup
 * Champions (2): 2022, 2023
 * Runners-up (1): 2021
 * French championship Top 14
 * Runners-up (2): 2021, 2023
 * European Rugby Challenge Cup
 * Runners-up (1): 2019
 * League Cup
 * Champions (2): 2002, 2003

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

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
 * 🇫🇷 Yacine Dekkiche
 * 🇫🇷 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
 * Ronan O’Gara

The club only had three head coaches from 1992 to 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.