Lyon vs La Rochelle Predictions - Lyon backed against weakened La Rochelle

On the other hand, Lyon’s home form has been reasonably good of late, so I’m backing the hosts to cover the -4 hadnicap.

Earlier this season La Rochelle beat Lyon 35-14 at home.

Lyon are struggling this season down in 12th place on the Top 14. They have only managed five wins in 14 league games to date.

In their last game, Lyon lost 38-21 at Clermont, before which they defeated Perpignan 36-24 at home. In the Champions Cup, Lyon beat Connacht at home but lost comfortably at Saracens.

This is an opportunity for Lyon to gain some ground considering the players missing from the La Rochelle squad.

While Lyon have a few players out with international duty, it is nothing like the amount of players missing from the opposition. They will fancy their chances at home.

La Rochelle have struggled to reach the heights of the last two seasons this time around. They have an incredibly strong squad, but they languish down in 8th place on the table with seven wins and seven defeats.

There is little doubt that the double European champions will bounce back this season and go on a run at some point. However, they need that to start sooner rather than later.

After beating Leicester and Sale in the Champions Cup in mid-January, La Rochelle suffered a two-point defeat to Toulon in the Top 14. They did bounce back last time out, beating Montpellier 18-10 at home.

La Rochelle are without a host of players who are part of the Six Nations squads, mostly the French. They still have a fairly good squad so should be able to compete.