Stade Rochelais vs Lyon Prediction: Visiting Lyon will hope for another win on the road

At the Stade Marcel-Deflandre in La Rochelle, the second week of the France Top 14 will feature a matchup between Stade Rochelais and Lyon. Stade Rochelais suffered a disheartening loss on the road against Montpellier in their first clash, while Lyon triumphed against RC Toulonnais in their home stadium.

Even though Stade Rochelais entered the game against Montpellier as the favorite, they would have hoped for a better result if they had played it last weekend against Montpellier. On the other hand, whenever they return to their home field, there will most certainly be even higher expectations from this team, given that they are currently backed as favorites to win a match. The previous Saturday, Stade Rochelais played brilliantly towards the conclusion of the first half against Montpellier, pulling off an impressive comeback to tie the score at 10-10. Ihaia West and Dillyn Leyds were the most crucial players for this team in that particular half. West kicked a penalty goal and a conversion goal, and Leyds scored a try. However, things went in the wrong direction for this team in the second half, and they ended up losing 16-5 in that half. Nathan Bollengier was the only player who was successful in scoring a try for them in that half. Despite this, Stade Rochelais now have the opportunity to bounce back to being at their best, achieve their first win of the season, and begin their chase of a long-term season goal.

Lyon got off to a strong start in the new season by claiming victory against RC Toulonnais in a match that was played at home and ended with a score of 27-15. However, getting off to a strong start is essential for every team, and although there are still a lot of matches to be played, the group's primary objective should be to qualify for the postseason. Within the first twenty minutes of the play, they gave up six points, and Enzo Hervé's two penalty goals placed their opponent in the lead. Despite this, Lyon went into halftime leading 10-6 thanks to a try scored by Xavier Mignot in the 29th minute, as well as a penalty and a conversion goal scored by Fin Smith. However, the beginning of the second half was quite similar to the beginning of the first half. Enzo Hervé was the one who scored all three penalty goals in the second half, but he only scored two of those goals before Lyon gained their first point in the second half. Despite this, Lyon was able to pull out the victory in that encounter thanks to a crucial try scored by Xavier Mignot as well as points scored by Paddy Jackson in the form of a penalty and a conversion. Lyon entered this match having already secured the top spot in the standings for the France Top 14 with five points at the completion of the first week of the competition's schedule.

Lyon prevailed 16-20 in their most recent match against Stade Rochelais, which took place away from home. However, before that game, Stade Rochelais had won four consecutive matches, beginning with the 2021–2022 season, against Lyon and emerged victorious each time.

This is going to be a challenging contest because both teams are going into it with the intention of coming out on top. Despite this, Lyon played with class in their first game of the season, and there is little question that they will try to keep their good play going here. On the other hand, Stade Rochelais is favored by the bookmakers in this matchup, and as a result, there are high expectations placed on the home team. As a result of the high level of offensive play that is anticipated from both sides, the optimal wager to make in this situation is one on points. Also, based on what we saw from Lyon over the past weekend, we have every reason to believe that they will cover the spread, despite the fact that it will not be an easy game for them to win today.