If you were to be brutally honest about the way the Investec Champions Cup is shaping this season and has done over the past few seasons, you could describe it as a knock-out version of the French Top 14 plus Leinster.
Travelling away to La Rochelle is never easy, and the hosts would have won had it not been the way their best endeavours were suffocated by the Leinster defence.
With their narrow defeat and the quality of their performance, they sent out the message that they belong in the four next level teams that have a realistic chance of contesting for silverware in the deciding weeks - three French sides in themselves, Toulouse and Bordeaux Begles, plus Leinster. Johann van Graan joined Nienaber in being another South African coach who got the better of French opposition at the weekend, with his Bath team proving an exception to an otherwise poor weekend for English teams in the competition.
But otherwise it was another round of French domination and it is French teams that stand in the way of a South African advance to the round of 16 when the final round of the pool phase is played this coming weekend. Their defeat to Castres on Saturday night, even the margin of it, should have been expected.
White faces a tricky dilemma this week - Stade Francais are far from the strongest French side in the Champions Cup, and they probably challenge Castres, who very much look like a Griquas type team in the Top 14, to be the weakest.
