Lamb shows his teeth to savage the Quins
RYAN Lamb may have been surplus to requirements at Worcester, but he has reinvented himself in France in some style, steering La Rochelle to this impressive four tries to three away bonus point win.
The harum-scarum elements that often undermined Lamb’s game on this side of the Channel were nowhere in sight, as he not only nailed all but one of his seven attempts at goal, but also carved-out the decisive try of the match.
Although a Harlequins side depleted by injuries, and Kyle Sinckler’s suspension, battled gamely to eventually claw back a losing bonus point, there is no question that La Rochelle are already strong favourites to win Pool 1.
As well as the 31-year-old Lamb outshining young Marcus Smith as a ringmaster, La Rochelle had the most incisive back on the field in inside-centre Geoffroy Doumayrou, whose two tries were scorchers.
Having seen English rivals Wasps falter against Ulster in Belfast, Quins wanted a fast start against La Rochelle, who have the reputation for playing juggernaut rugby based on power rather than speed.
That slow-motion preconception was shattered after three minutes when the French side, who led the Top 14 for most of last season, scored the opening try from a five metre lineout drive with hooker Hikairo Forbes tunnelling over.
With Lamb converting and then exchanging penalties with Smith the visitors led 10-3. However, Quins struck back when Jamie Roberts broke the line and off-loaded to put Charlie Matthews over, and with Smith adding the extras it was 10-10.
Enter Doumayrou. The bearded centre left two Quins defenders standing and beat another before slipping the ball to Jason Eaton and taking the return pass to glide over. La Rochelle struck again almost immediately with muscular prop Dany Priso bursting through after sustained pressure, and with Lamb converting both tries they led 24-10.
Quins countered when Joe Marchant scored following a clean break by Mike Brown. Smith converted to make it 24-17, and although the fly-half ’s quicksilver show-and-go came close to creating another chance, that was how it stayed until the interval.
The second-half began with Smith springing Ged Glynn through a gap, but where Harlequins wasted chances La Rochelle were more ruthless. Moments later Lamb’s dummy duped Smith, and Doumayrou’s acceleration onto his inside pass was a gear faster than Brown’s covering run and the touchdown allowed Lamb to stretch the French side’s lead to 31-17.
When Lamb added a penalty with 28 minutes left, Quins were struggling. However, with Kevin Gourdon sin-binned for a deliberate knock-down the home side capitalised when Smith and James Horwill put Tim Collier over.
Smith’s conversion made it 34-24, and with the Harlequins pack summoning every last ounce they won a penalty in the penultimate minute.
Smith was on target to secure a point, but it will take some salvage operation, for either Quins, or Wasps – who they meet at the Ricoh next Sunday – to stop La Rochelle.