TWICKENHAM STOOP -- Jouez, jouez. French flair and ambitious rugby a thing of the past? Pah! La Rochelle, dressed in their black and white, were straight out of the same rugby chapter housing the Barbarians as they went from anywhere and everywhere to open their Champions Cup campaign with a 34-27 win over Harlequins.

As the sky dimmed in a calm English evening, La Rochelle lit up The Stoop with some wonderful, inventive, bold, unwavering attacking rugby to claim a bonus point victory.

For their first match in the Champions Cup, stage fright was left in some unspoken corner, as they brought their slice of Nouvelle-Aquitaine rugby to London. Harlequins responded in kind and had some wonderful spells with Marcus Smith's boundless potential again illustrated as he carried to the gainline time after time despite being faced with a La Rochelle front five who wouldn't look out of place as extras for the Lord of the Rings.

But this was the beauty of the Top 14 entertainers -- they had two gears: fifth for those from numbers six onwards, and fourth for their team of giants in the front five.

Their multi-faceted attack highlighted perfectly by Dany Priso's first-half try as he darted over from close range despite tipping the scales at 110kg, a slighter stature when next to Uini Atonio, who is so colossal he could fit Smith in one of his pockets. What this game proved, was that to be successful, you don't have to roll out a gameplan built around territory. Instead, if you have the skillset, then throw caution to the wind, attack from anywhere and sometimes, just pin your ears back and run hell for leather.

That's what Geoffrey Doumayrou did for La Rochelle's fourth try, but it came after Ryan Lamb dummied Smith and sent him over. Lamb, he of the five Aviva Premiership clubs and bizarrely no England caps, was outstanding for La Rochelle. With Chris Ashton in France, the Top 14 is fast becoming a league for those players from this side of the channel who fell out of love with the English bureaucracy. Both strong personalities, wonderfully talented and if given an inch, they will stretch their legs and be gone.

At fly-half with the diminutive Alexi Bales providing him the quickest of ball, Lamb showed off his full repertoire -- throwing 20 meter passes in his in-goal area, and cross-kicking along a five-degree incline when space opened up. The only blot was the dropped pass behind his own tryline midway through the second half. But La Rochelle's hero was openside Kevin Gourdon.

He ticks off all the job requirements for a back-rower at the top end of a CV, but then adds in an array of skills around his breakdown capabilities. He helped set the ground work for Doumayrou's first score -- a wonderful effort involving neat interplay with Jason Eaton -- but utilised more often than not on Lamb's shoulder, he picked holes in Harlequins' defence and backed it up with 16 tackles.

Eaton never stopped grafting in their second row while Doumayrou and Victor Vito were also highly effective.

Quins battled throughout. Mike Brown was at his bullish best, constantly trying to batter through the La Rochelle defence while Danny Care and Jamie Roberts also impressed.

Smith again showed why he is so highly rated by just about any and everyone involved in English rugby -- it is sometimes extremely difficult to remember he is merely 18-years-old, but their hero, in a game dominated by pace and fleet-footed fancywork, was the old warrior James Horwill.

Horwill simply never stops working. He is an Australian version of Chris Robshaw, someone whose vision after a match must be restricted to a couple of metres such has been their focus on hitting any and every ruck, opposition possible as they go from one breakdown to the next.

But married with his focus on the close quarters, his delightful offload for Will Collier's score showed he has more to his game than being a mere workaholic and he made two first-half tunrovers.

He is a fine captain for Quins, and is a gem the Premiership must cherish while they can. Harlequins, affected by the injury pandemic engulfing the Premiership, will take heart from aspects of their performance, but they now need to win at Wasps next week if they are to keep their Champions Cup campaign alive.

One of rugby's stereotypes is that French teams travel badly, and the modern game has seen courageous caution-to-the-wind flair become out-dated in the northern hemisphere.

But on a still evening in London, in their first time dining at Europe's top table, La Rochelle brought their own gastronomical delights to the party with an all-court showing of wonderful inventiveness.

If this is a sign of what is to come from their Champions Cup campaign then sign me up for a season ticket.