Merciless James has all guns blazing

UNDER his arm he cradled the Waterford Crystal man-of-the-match trophy, on his face a smile, and why not?

Brock James had just had one of the games of his life, master-minding the first defeat of this Heineken Cup campaign for the champions with some brilliant tactical kicking and handling, and scoring every one of Clermont’s 25 points. Seven kicks from seven, and of course the try that ultimately decided this gruelling encounter.

Seven minutes into the second half, against what had been a watertight Munster defence, Clermont were again battering at the Munster line and getting nowhere, when suddenly it all happened for the Aussie number ten. There was a step inside Ronan O’Gara, another inside Paul O’Connell, then finally a brush past Doug Howlett, and he was in. It wasn’t his only moment of inspiration all afternoon, but it was the most crucial.

“I think our patience was a bit better in the second half,” he explained, “And we had better field position and kept them under pressure. We held onto the ball for a bit longer, it came back a little bit quicker, and the gaps started to appear. There was a lot of pressure coming on out wide, so it was nice to get through.”

That try, which he converted, put Clermont in front for the first time and it brought what had been a relatively subdued home crowd into it.

“There was not a lot of space in the first half,” Brock explained, “They slowed down our ball very well so we weren’t able to get on the front foot. In the second half, we managed to spread it a bit better, we got better field position, and the penalties kept the scoreboard ticking over.”

Munster still came away with something, a precious bonus point. Disappointing? “Against a team like Munster the first thing you need to do is win, and if after that we can deprive them of a bonus point, then all the better. We’ve had a lot of inconsistency this year, and to beat the best team in Munster was a big win for us.

“We’ve had a good week training this week, let’s hope we can repeat it next week.”

That inconsistency was something that was also on the mind of hooker Mario Ledesma, a man who relishes these type of battles.

“Since the beginning of the year we’ve been alternating our best game with our worst game,” he admitted. “I don’t know what is the problem, especially against the so-called little teams, we don’t seem to play as well as we do against the big teams. We should be motivated to play against the teams like Munster, but we should also be motivated to play against teams like Mont-de-Marsan.”

But they’re back in the frame. “Yes, but it’s really tough now, we don’t have a joker, as they say in France, we have to win all our remaining games. But we’ll enjoy our win tonight, look at that next week. Thomond Park, it’s a magical place to play in. Let’s hope we play as well as we played tonight.”