Clermont outclass spiritless Saints
Northampton were put firmly in their place by Clermont as the French giants ran out all-too-comfortable 37-5 victors to advance to the European Cup semifinals.
English rugby's forgotten man, Nick Abendanon, showed Stuart Lancaster what he's missing as he made two tries and scored another as Clermont ripped the English champions apart.
Clermont had won their past 22 European Cup games at home, and were protecting a record of never having lost a home quarter final in 10 previous games in all competitions, and never looked in trouble.
They led 27-0 at half-time, increased their lead to 37-0 after Abendanon had raced 60 metres to score their fourth try, and only a close range lunge from Alex Waller saved Saints' blushes as they finally managed a consolation try in the second half.
Brock James calmed the home nerves with a penalty and French wing Noa Nakaitaci weaved his way over at the posts for the first of three first half tries. James added the conversion and then extended the lead with a second penalty shortly after opposite number Steve Myler had missed a kick of his own.
Clermont ended the first half with a brace of tries as Abendanon created a second try for Nakaitaci and then dazzled the Saints defence with his footwork and offload to send Wesley Fofana streaking to the line.
That made it 27-0 by the break and the second half started with another James penalty before Abendanon stepped up into the defensive line to tackle George Pisi, rip the ball out of his hands and streak 60 metres to the Saints line for the try of the night.
James' conversion made it 37-0, at which time it looked as though Saints were going to go down to a record defeat. Waller's try saved them from that fate, but what promised to be a good European campaign when they won four on the trot ended in complete disarray with successive defeats to Racing Metro 92 (32-8 at home) and Clermont.
Man of the Match: Northampton showed no fight and were dominated in all aspects of the game. For Clermont, Noa Nakaitaci has some devastating runs and gained metres at will. Wesley Fofana was busy and showed some nifty footwork to grab his try and Brock James controlled the match nicely to release his backline. However, Nick Abendanon gets our nod for his attacking prowess and exceptional defensive efforts and not to mention his solo try.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Tries: Nakaitaci 2, Fofana, Abendanon
Cons: James 4
Pens: James 3
For Northampton:
Try: Waller
Yellow card: Julien Bonnaire (Clermont, 57 – repeated infringements, slowing the ball down)
Teams:
Clermont: 15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Brock James, 9 Ludovic Radoslavjevic, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Damien Chouly (captain), 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Vincent Debaty.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Clément Ric, 19 Julien Pierre, 20 Julien Bardy, 21 Thierry Lacrampe, 22 Mike Delany, 23 Aurélien Rougerie.
Northampton: 15 James Wilson, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Sam Dickinson, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Christian Day, 20 Jonathan Fisher, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 Tom Stephenson, 23 Ah See Tuala.
Referee: Johnny Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Leighton Hodges (Wales), David Wilkinson (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
@ChampionsCup & @rugby365com
