Clermont send a clear message to Munster
Just a few hours after Munster won in Stockport, Clermont recovered from their shockingly below-par performance against Sale Sharks the previous week with a similar result at Stade de Sapiac to keep their hat in the ring.
Now all eyes will be on their back-to-back games against the defending European champions in December, starting at Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin.
Vern Cotter, Clermont’s Kiwi coach, said: “The pool has opened back up again after this weekend’s results. Munster are going to be very keen to keep their home record intact and we know they will come here looking for a win.
“They are going to be very tense matches and we certainly know what is in store for us from Munster. The turnaround they made from the Montauban game to beat Sale away shows the quality they have.
“We play the first game at home, so we have to make sure we win that game and deny them even a bonus point. We will only look at the away game after that to see what we can do at Thomond.
“Hopefully we will have a few players back from long-term injuries so we will definitely be rolling up our sleeves to get stuck into two very tough games.”
France wing Aurelien Rougerie, prop Martin Scelzo and Canadian lock Jamie Cudmore could all be in the frame for the Munster matches.
However, for newcomers Montauban it was yet another harsh lesson in their first season in the Heineken Cup. Having been cruelly denied at Thomond Park by a late penalty, after giving the champions an almighty scare, they were sunk by Clermont with a try from wing Napolioni Vonowale-Nalaga nine minutes from time.
The score sparked a free-for-all in the in-goal area as Montauban’s frustration told, though a second losing bonus point means they could yet have a say in the outcome of Pool One.
Victory for Clermont was reward for outscoring their hosts three tries to one, all converted by Brock James. After Vonowale- Nalaga’s first inside two minutes, flanker Alexandre Audebert touched down in the 25th minute to open a 17-9 lead but when opposite number Antoine Battut scored a controversial try on 54 minutes, following four penalties by Montauban’s Romanian scrum-half Petre Mitu, a first Heineken Cup win was in their sights.
Clermont’s power told late on, however, and following a series of thrusts, Vonowale-Nalaga was shoved over by the full force of his pack to keep the Pool wide open.
MONTAUBAN: J Dalla Riva, Y Audrin, J Viard (F Fortassin 66), R Jahouer [capt], V Delasau, R Lespinas, P Mitu (J Audy 77), G Shvelidze (L DelBoulbes 58), B Mach (G Parriel 74), N Adams (B Sa 46), K Ghezal, R Frost (S Murray 46), Y Caballero (A Boutaty 51), A Battut, M Clarkin.
ASM CLERMONT AUVERGNE: B Baby (A Floch 34), N Vonowale Nalaga, G Canale, S Bai, J Malzieu, B James, P Mignoni, S Davison (T Domingo 30), B Cabello, J Roux, J Pierre, C Samson (L Jacquet 54), J Bonnaire, A Audebert, E Vermeulen (capt).
Referee: Chris White (England).
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