La Rochelle, who hosted the women’s international between France and Scotland last night, has a past worth re-telling and a present that has never shone more brightly.
Few in French rugby would have put their black-and-yellow shirts on Stade Rochelais, as the club are officially known, leading the Top 14 at such an advanced stage of the season.
But there they are with an outfit as gifted and powerful as Clermont clinging to their coat-tails and the rest not even close.
No club have a stouter defence and none can match their success away from home, a record enhanced by victory at Toulo...