Top 14: Grégory Alldritt back on Saturday with La Rochelle

A return before the scheduled time. According to information from L'Équipe, Grégory Alldritt, the third center line of the XV of France, will play again this Saturday with Stade Rochelais, in the clash at the top at Marcel-Deflandre, against Stade Toulousain, in a remake of the last Top 14 final won by the Rouge et Noir. Basically, the number 8 of the Blues had announced, in agreement with his club, that he was taking a two-month break, until the start of 2024, to regenerate both physically and mentally, after the The failure of the last World Cup in the quarter-finals against South Africa, future champion.

“I've had this break in mind for a long time. Since the 2019 World Cup in Japan, I have done a lot of training, although I have been lucky enough to have few injuries. Discussions about the possibility of taking a two-month break after the World Cup began with my manager Ronan O'Gara following the European Cup title,” Alldritt told the sports daily. His last match with the La Rochelle jersey dates back to the last Top 14 final lost against Stade Toulousain on June 17 (29-26) at the Stade de France.

Since then, the Rochelais have had a very sluggish start to the year. After two defeats to launch their Champions Cup campaign (Leinster 9-16 and Stormers 20-21), the reigning double European champion lost last weekend on the Jean-Bouin pitch against Stade Français Paris (18-13). La Rochelle, which has only won three of the last ten matches in all competitions, is stagnating in 9th place in the Top 14 after a fifth defeat in as many trips this season in the league. The arrival of the French champion at Marcel-Deflandre is already crucial. It remains to be seen what form Alldritt, the French “bulldozer”, will be in...