Lack of tactical acumen costs Clermont dear
The problem here was that only one team turned up to play and in the end, Clermont were found guilty of playing too much rugby. As a consequence, they remain the best side never to win this European title.
It was hard to escape the feeling at the final whistle that the better team had lost. Munster showed in the semi-final that despite being the inferior side for long periods in Montpellier, they still came within a whisker of reaching the final. Toulon, with their vast resources, are a superior force to Munster and they prevailed in a contest where, despite a lack of ambition, they had the necessary power and muscle to keep in touch.
The fact that the final was decided by a try against the run of play by a player who displayed no class whatsoever in the act of scoring, failed to do anything to endear Toulon to the neutral follower.
Not for the first time in his career, Delon Armitage courted controversy with his hand gesture to the chasing Brook James en route to producing the decisive score of the game.
Clermont were the superior force for the vast majority of this game, yet in the end showed a complete lack of appreciation of what is required to win cup rugby. Perhaps that is why they have a history of losing so many finals. Trailing by a point after that decisive Armitage try, they still had plenty of time to win the game.
Yet, reminiscent of New Zealand in their World Cup quarter-final defeat to France back in 2007, they failed to recognise that you don’t need tries to close out a tight contest of this nature.
All that was required was a penalty or a drop goal to win a first Heineken Cup, but Clermont lacked the necessary tactical acumen to deliver. When reserve out-half David Skrela, who was featuring in a Heineken Cup with a fourth different club, eventually attempted to rescue the game with a drop goal at the death, it was without any degree of conviction. It was fitting that Toulon captain Jonny Wilkinson was the one to block Skrela’s effort.
Toulon’s success offers credence to the view that you can now buy your way to silverware and with the vast amounts of money being spent by Racing Metro’s billionaire president Jacky Lorenzetti on the playing and coaching front for next season, he will take heart from this win.
Clermont are not short of a few bob themselves, but at least their side contains a number of players who have dedicated themselves to the cause and have been associated with the club throughout their careers.
Principal amongst those is their inspirational captain Aurelian Rougerie, who was outstanding throughout on Saturday. His participation in this final was in doubt right up to kick off as he hadn’t played a minute’s rugby since the quarter-final win over Montpellier in March. His withdrawal minutes after Armitage’s crucial try visibly hit Clermont and tested their mental resilience. Unfortunately, not for the first time, they failed that test.
Toulon deserve credit for hanging in there when the excellence of their defensive effort and competitiveness at the breakdown kept them in the contest despite conceding two tries within eight minutes of the half time break.
The disappointing thing for the purist, however, is that their lack of ambition proved more decisive than Clermont’s inclination to play too much rugby. They should never have lost after going 15-6 ahead.
Toulon’s only try in the entire knockout phase of this tournament came as a direct result of Clermont’s failure to play territory at a time when they were in control. James and then the gifted Wesley Fofana passed up the opportunity to kick for field position deep in their own half in favour of running from defence. Argentina’s inspirationalcaptain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe manufactured a crucial turnover to set up the decisive Armitage try.
Having watched Clermont defeat the double reigning champions Leinster twice this season, this tournament was there’s for the taking. In the end, the vulnerability they displayed against Munster came back to haunt them and they were incapable of closing the deal. The only consolation is that in the twilight of a great career, Wilkinson has been rewarded with a cherished Heineken Cup medal.
For Clermont, a bit like Munster over a decade ago, the pain of this crushing defeat will only fuel their desire even further in the future. The only concern for them, with just a season left of the Heineken Cup as we know it and with serious concerns over the tournament’s future in its current format, time is running out for the men from the Auvergne.
In a weekend not short of Gallic flavour, even our own Ronan O’Gara got in on the act.
Jonny Sexton made it clear that he was blissfully unaware of the fact that O’Gara was being added to the coaching ticket at Racing Metro in the days leading up to Friday’s Amlin Challenge Cup final. On the basis of his performance against Stade Francais, there isn’t a whole lot required of the Cork man to do to improve Sexton’s game any further.
He gave a master class in tactical kicking, setting up one brilliant try with an inch-perfect cross-field kick and converting six from six with the boot. Joe Schmidt gambled a little with his selection, with one eye on the Rabo final on Saturday, but by half time even he would accept that a fourth European crown in five years was Leinster-bound. They look in good shape to address the one blemish that has distorted their achievements over the last few years when losing three Celtic finals in a row. Ulster, who will prove a far more formidable obstacle than Stade Francais, now stand in the way of that elusive domestic and European double.
