Clermont shut Sarries down
Replacement flyhalf Brock James starred for Clermont as they qualified for their first European Cup semifinal by beating Saracens 22-3 in London on Sunday.
The Australian playmaker was called into action when David Skrela limped out of the action after only three minutes at Vicarage Road and went on to dominate the game with his booming right boot.
He ended the afternoon with 17 points, from four penalties, a drop goal and conversion, and gained huge amounts of territory every time he kicked the ball out of hand.
It meant the English champions spent the game playing on the back foot and with this defeat went the last hope of English representation in the semifinals of both European competitions.
As for centenary celebrating Clermont, they now have the chance to follow in the footsteps of Toulouse (4 times) and Brive by becoming the kings of European rugby. It has been their stated intent all season and now they will go head-to-head with the reigning champions Leinster – and their former coach Joe Schmidt in Bordeaux.
Having started at a cracking pace, the visitors and their highly vocal band of 2,000 travelling fans would have been unhappy to have gone in at the break 9-3 to the good. But they opened the second half with a blitz of 13 points and the game was virtually over.
Skipper Aurelien Rougerie created half an opening up the right touchline for Morgan Parra and the scrumhalf raced into the home 22 before releasing the excellent Lee Byrne for the only try of the game.
James, naturally, added the touchline conversion and then added a 40 metre drop goal out of nothing. Another penalty followed soon after and with 26 minutes left on the clock the Frenchmen had a 19 point lead.
To their credit, Saracens threw the kitchen sink at Clermont in the closing stages, but failed to add to their single Owen Farrell penalty. It means the record of an English club always winning when there is a European Cup Final at Twickenham Stadium has been broken.
The scorers:
For Saracens:
Pen: Farrell
For Clermont:
Try: Byrne
Con: James
Pens: James 3, Skrela
DG: James
Teams:
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Justin Melck, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Rhys Gill.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 George Kruis, 20 Jackson Wray, 21 Neil de Kock, 22 Adam Powell, 23 James Short.
Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Aurélien Rougerie (captain), 12 Wesley Fofana , 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Lionel Faure.
Replacements: 16 Ti’i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Daniel Kotze, 19 Julien Pierre, 20 Julien Bardy, 21 Ludovic Radoslavjevic , 22 Brock James, 23 Jean-Marcel Buttin.
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
