For his first trip of the season, La Rochelle started as he had finished last season, with a victory in Lyon (23-21), at the Stade de Gerland, on behalf of the second day of Top 14. With an XV unchanged from their initial victory against defending champion Montpellier at Marcel-Deflandre, the Rochelais won by playing their hand, without forcing their talent, which earned them a good scare at the very end of the match.
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Thanks to a well-structured game, and to the opponent's shortcomings, the visitors quickly took the lead, their New Zealand scrum-half, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, scoring a close try (7-0. 10th) after a good job from the forwards.
Then, the opener Antoine Hastoy punished twice (29, 43rd) the opposing faults (13-0).
After letting the storm pass at the start of the second period, the South African winger, Dillyn Leyds responded tit for tat to the test of his Lyon counterpart, the Georgian Davit Niniashvili, (20-7. 61st).
Alongside their rugby throughout the game, the Lyonnais picked up an unlikely defensive bonus point given their performance for most of the encounter.
They owe it to two late tries from international scrum half Baptiste Couilloud (14-23. 76th) and New Zealand center Josiah Maraku (21-23. 79th)
Harmless in the first period, they gave a lot of balls to get beaten, between avoidable forwards (14th) and unsteady passes (19th, 23rd).
In the second period, several approximations from the forwards (48th) then from winger Noa Nakaitaci (53rd) prevented them from picking up the score.
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