Champions Cup Review - Saracens v Clermont Auvergne

Ask 100 fans what their favourite Heineken Cup moment is and there’ll be 100 different answers.  And they won’t all be from the biggest games, although I’m sure Rob Howley’s cheeky try against Toulouse will feature highly in many people’s charts.  Although perhaps not Clement Poitrenaud... Sure, there are plenty of finals that have created fond memories, but it’s the brutal battles in the pool stages – where teams and fans get to know each other over two legs – which really stay in many people’s minds.  As an example, my personal favourite was Leicester’s defeat of Munster at Thommond Park in 2007 – a filthy but full-blooded 13 – 6 win on a miserable January night.  But, that being said, if you ask a Saracens fan about their favourite moment, it’s probably a wee bit predictable.

Yes, I am of course talking about the semi-final at Twickenham last year.  A masterclass in offensive defence from the English side saw  Clermont Auvergne, one of the most exciting attacking sides in Europe, obliterated off the face of the pitch, succumbing to a 40 point thrashing.  How fitting then that, in this new look tournament, that both sides – flying high in their respective domestic leagues – should have the pleasure of each other’s company in the pool stages this time around, with the first meeting taking place on Saturday at Allianz Park.

But if that glorious Twickenham day was characterised by the brutal, relentless defence on show from the men in black, this contest opened up with a try created by one winger and scored by another.  After just four minutes, direct running from Brad Barritt and Billy Vunipola had fixed the Clermont defence, and slick hands from Charlie Hodgson and Alex Goode gave Dave Strettle the chance to stretch his legs down the left hand side.  The in-form winger made 20 metres before spying the cover defence coming across, in the shape of Zac Guilford and Wesley Fofana, and threw an inside pass that found its way to the tracking Chris Ashton, ever poaching, via a Clermont hand.  Hodgson missed the conversion but, at 5 – 0 up with the game in its infancy, was another schooling on the cards for the French visitors.

The response was as emphatic as their defeat 6 months ago, with the men in white taking just five minutes to put their own marker down.  Last time round their deadly wing duo of Nalaga and Sivivatu were kept well and truly under wraps but here, in a mirror image of the Saracens score, the French giants got their campaign under way with a try that involved both of their wide men.  Off first phase ball, Noa Nakaitaci ghosted around the outside of Chris Wyles to come within a metre of the line, but the ball was recycled quick enough for Camille Lopez to squirt the ball out to Guilford, who plopped over the line. 

Lopez added a superb conversion and a penalty goal five minutes later, and suddenly they had a five point cushion on their hosts.  It should perhaps have been even more but Fofana, a lively presence throughout, spilt a tricky pass from Lopez with the line in his sights.  It proved to be a wake up call for Sarries and, after a solid 20 minutes of near constant defending, they sprung into life with trademark ruthlessness – and this time it was Strettle’s turn to finish after Richard Wigglesworth’s clever quick tap and run gave the former England man to touch down superbly in the left hand corner.  Hodgson again missed the difficult conversion, but Sarries were level 10-10 at half-time, although they had Will Fraser to thank after the young flanker pilfered the ball from his opponents when Clermont were lining up to score.

Early on in the second half Hodgson and Lopez exchanged 3 pointers – the Clermont man landing a drop goal – before the pendulum once again took sharp swing; this time in favour of the visitors.  Scrum half Ludovic Radoslavjevic hammered up a perfectly weighted box kick from his own 22, and Guildford chased magnificently to win the aerial collision with Goode and stride over from 55metres out.  Another Lopez conversion gave the visitors a 7 point cushion again and – in a game this tight – surely some breathing space.

But once again the fightback was immediate and devastating, and the man dissipating the notion of breathing space was once again Strettle.  Barely a minute had passed since Guildford’s second when the England man got half a yard to move following a strong run from Billy Vunipola and a loose pass from Goode – but half a yard is all he needs at the moment.  From a standing start, he stood up Fritz Lee to finish superbly again in the corner under pressure, and this time Hodgson was able to add the extras from out wide.

The next 15 minutes or so were tit-for-tat as the sides arm-wrestled one another with the score at 20 apiece.  A bizarre jumping challenge from Ashton enabled Lopez to boot a penalty before Hodgson replied in kind and then, in the 60^th minute, Clermont had a try disallowed after Damien Chouly had struck Neil de Kock off the ball.  It would prove to be a crucial moment as, 2 minutes later, Ashton struck the decisive blow – and, ironically, it was Clermont’s chief attacking weapon, Zac Guildford, who was at fault.  Hodgson hoisted a high kick from his 22 and the former All Black completely misjudged the flight of it, allowing the chasing Ashton to hack the loose ball ahead of the floundering Nick Abendanon to score on the right hand side.  Another great kick from Hodgson gave the hosts a 7 point lead – but this time it would prove to be sufficient breathing space.

Clermont tired and Saracens demonstrated their ruthless streak by closing the game out without allowing the French side the faintest sniff of their line, leaving the final score 30 – 23 to the men in black. 

So, no 40 point mauling this time around, but both sides will be happy with the outcome upon reflection, with Sarries picking up a try bonus point and Clermont coming away with a losing one.  Those little extras will go a long way in a pool that looks too close to call, much like this game was for 60 minutes.  But, despite a new format, new name and a new trophy, did we really expect anything different?


And in the other games in the opening round of the Champions Cup?

Harlequins 25 – 9 Castres:  Quins opened the new tournament with a gritty win over Castres at a muddy Stoop, with new dad Danny Care scoring the only try of the game.

Sale Sharks 26 – 27 Munster:  Munster er…did 'a Munster' and claimed a spectacular last minute win thanks to an Ian Keatley drop goal.  The Sharks had led 23 – 7 at half time through tries for Magnus Lund and Johnny Leota, but tries for Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Conway and Conor Murray brought the Munstermen right back into it.

Glasgow Warriors 27 – 10 Bath:  Glasgow surprised many pundits by hammering in-form visitors, Bath at Scotstoun.  The English side could only manage a solitary try from Jonathan Joseph, whilst the Scots were rampant with Mark Bennett, Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour and Nikola Matawalu all crossing.

Racing Metro 20 – 11 Northampton Saints:  Racing defied their Top 14 form – and Saints' domestic form – to claim an ugly win in a dire encounter in Paris.  A try from Alexandre Dumoulin helped the hosts to a 13 – 6 lead before an unconverted Phil Dowson try brought the English side back within range, but they handed a decisive score to Marc Andreu on a plate as they tried to attack from deep late on.

Leicester Tigers 25 – 18 Ulster:  The Tigers claimed a morale boosting win and held off a stern comeback from the Ulstermen, but in reality they will be disappointed they didn't claim the bonus point after a dominant first half in which Owen Williams, Graham Kitchener and Freddie Burns all scored.  The second 40 was a different tale though, and tries from Tommy Bowe and Franco van der Merwe made the final 10 minutes pretty tense.

Ospreys 42 – 7 Benetton Treviso:  The Ospreys hammered sorry Treviso in a 5-try romp, with Jess Hasler, Rhys Webb, Dan Evans (2) and Dan Baker all crossing before Ludovico Nitoglia grabbed a consolation for the Italian side.

Toulouse 30 – 23 Montpellier:  Toulouse won an all-French battle against Montpellier with an entertaining win at home.  Yoann Huget crossed for a double with Jean-Marc Doussain adding another, with Montpellier responding through Timoci Nagusa and Wynand Olivier.

Toulon 28 – 18 Scarlets:  The reigning champions got off to a winning start in their title defence but it wasn't overly convincing as they failed to pick up a bonus point against the plucky Scarlets.  The hosts scored through Matt Giteau, Maxime Mermoz and Steffon Armitage, whilst John Barclay and Kristian Phillips responded for the Welsh region.

Leinster 25 – 20 Wasps:  The Irish giants were given a mighty scare by Wasps but pulled through thanks to a controversial score awarded to Dominic Ryan.  The visitors had been in charge in the first half thanks to scores from Alapati Leiua and Christian Wade, but a double from Darragh Fanning put the hosts in the position to snatch it.