La Rochelle slam Champions Cup travel demands ahead of Stormers clash

The two-time winners face John Dobson's Stormers this Saturday, a week after opening the tournament against Leicester Tigers on home soil, but have voiced frustration over the long-haul travel and drastic climate changes involved in playing in South Africa.

Ronan O'Gara's men will then head back to France ahead of the Christmas and New Year Top 14 fixtures, where they face Bayonne, Toulouse and Toulon over consecutive weekends before the Champions Cup resumes.

"Of course, it's always a pain to have a whole day of travel to go to another country where it's not the same season, whereas in Europe, you can make a maximum three-hour trip by plane, and the matter is settled," centre Jules Favre wrote in his L'Equipe column.

"Here, you leave on Sunday after the match, you still have a lot of aches and pains, you spend a day travelling on the plane, in airports, on buses, and you don't train where you usually train."

La Rochelle coach Romain Carmignani was far more scathing in his assessment and suggested that there was a player welfare issue.

"I don't know who's organising this, but there are questions to be asked, especially about the players' health," Carmignani told Rugbyrama.

"Making them play there in the rain, then moving to 30-degree weather, and then the following weekend making them play in 2.3-degree weather again.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea. It's all about business. It's truly ridiculous and stupid!"

The Stormers usually play in Cape Town but this weekend they have moved the game to Gqeberha, which is almost 800km away, due to the DHL Stadium being unavailable.

That has extended La Rochelle's travel with the French team landing in Johannesburg before having to take another flight to their destination.

"I'd really like to understand their logic. We have to live up to our status. We're playing the Stormers, who we can't even play in Cape Town, it makes for a ridiculous journey," France star Gregory Alldritt told Midi Olympique before the start of the season.

The La Rochelle captain, who will not feature this weekend, then added: "We either have to endure it or embrace it.

"Say what you will. There are 18-19 year old players who are going to South Africa for a week to play a Champions Cup match against the Stormers.

"It's going to be a great week in the sun. We have to try to find some momentum and play this match where we clearly have nothing to lose."

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