The former New Zealand scrum-half admits that the La Rochelle players missed the vocal support when matches were taking place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic but reckons things will be very different this season.

“I definitely think it’s much more difficult for teams to come and play here when we have our 16,000 supporters behind us,” he said. “When we’re tired, they give us energy and they give us that last push to get across the line.”

The 31-year-old joined La Rochelle in 2019 and feels the club are definitely heading in the right direction – with last season being a great illustration of that as they reached the Heineken Champions Cup final as well as the TOP 14 final.

“In my first season here, we actually did really well - we managed to be involved in the quarter-final of the Champions Cup and we just missed out on the TOP 14 [play-offs] by one point,” he said.

“I think the club president, Pierre Venayre, and the staff here are doing good things, because we seem to be in the finals most seasons, and I think, hopefully, we can progress, go one better this season and win the competition. It’s difficult, but the club is trending in a good direction.”

Although the Australian-born half-back admits they were disappointed to miss out on silverware last time out, he insists La Rochelle will get extra motivation from those defeats.

“It’s a new season and we’ve had to start again,” he said. “We have to construct those performances and momentum as well, but we know we’ve been there before.

“It’s important that we believe in ourselves and believe in our abilities to go one step further, because I think we’re definitely capable of winning our first competition, but we’ll just have to see.”

Tawera Kerr-Barlow believes that Stade Rochelais have the best supporters in the world – and that it’s the fans who will make the difference as their team look to bounce back from last season’s heartbreak and lift the Heineken Champions Cup for the first time.