NEWCASTLE — La Rochelle defeated Newcastle Red Bulls 26-18 in a European Challenge Cup match at Kingston Park, eliminating the English side and booking a quarter-final trip to play Ulster next weekend. The match was played in poor weather conditions at the Newcastle ground.

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O'Gara, a former Ireland fly-half, made 13 changes to his starting lineup from the side that lost to Bayonne seven days earlier. The French club's absentees for the match included Nolann Le Garrec, Will Skelton, and Jack Nowell. La Rochelle had dropped into the Challenge Cup after finishing fifth in their Champions Cup pool, having lost at home to Harlequins in the Champions Cup this season.

Ihaia West scored a try after collecting a grubber kick from Adrien Seguret, and Jules Favre touched down in the corner. Gabin Garault added a third try on the blindside after a Newcastle line-out. Diego Jurd contributed two penalty goals for the visitors.

Newcastle fought back through Elliott Obatoyinbo, who scored a try after receiving a pass from Brett Connon. Murray McCallum crossed just after half-time for the Red Bulls, and Connon added two penalty goals to narrow the gap.

The match saw disciplinary issues on both sides. West was sent to the sin-bin for an off-the-ball tackle, while Fergus Lee-Warner was yellow-carded for a head-on-head tackle. Nolhann Couillaud sealed the result with a try in the final minute for La Rochelle.

Newcastle interim head coach Stephen Jones reflected on the loss. "First-half we gave ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb as we conceded on pretty much every entry they had into our 22. We tidied that up second-half and started playing our game and I was really happy with how we were going. But the last 20 minutes was kicks to the corner from them and trying to wear us down," Jones said.

Newcastle had won three of their four pool matches in the Challenge Cup to earn a home tie in the knockout round, but the result ended their European campaign. The Red Bulls have won one Premiership match this season and sit bottom of the table.

La Rochelle, winners of the Champions Cup in 2022 and 2023, are ninth in the Top 14. They will travel to face Ulster in the quarter-finals next weekend.