Stade Rochelais 7 beat Vannes 7 10:5 at the Super Sevens tournament on 22 August 2026. It was a result the visitors had been building towards, if only in fragments. Vannes had looked sharp coming into the fixture, winning both of their previous encounters on 21 August.
Two straight victories for the hosts — 28:12 against Montpellier, 24:19 over Castres Olympique — suggested momentum was with them. Stade Rochelais, by contrast, had fallen in both of their matches that same day, losing 19:14 to Lyon and 17:24 to Bordeaux Bégles 7. The contrast between the two sides' recent form made the final scoreline worth noting.
And here's the thing: the sevens format strips away the comfort of a full squad. Substitutions are limited, fatigue sets in faster, and a single lapse can cost you the match. Stade Rochelais managed to find a way through when it mattered, capitalising on the structure Vannes had been relying on.
The hosts had played with confidence in their previous outings, but confidence can curdle quickly in this format. Stade Rochelais kept them in it through discipline, then closed the gap. The visitors' recent results — a 36:0 win over Castres Olympique back in August 2025, a heavy 7:42 loss to Perpignan USA — showed the volatility of their campaign. This result sits somewhere between those extremes.
Five to ten is not a rout, but it is enough to shift the balance. Stade Rochelais end their double-header on the right side of the ledger, while Vannes will want to forget how quickly their winning run came to an end.