Saracens have advanced to their first-ever Heineken Cup final, after a thumping 46-6 win over Clermont. The English team scored six tries in the biggest winning margin in a Heineken Cup semi-final.
Some terrific attacking play, bolstered by immense defence, catapulted Saracens to the final and also made a mockery of their underdog status going into the game.
Clermont were playing in their third consecutive semi-final and had the more experienced team. However, they do have a history of falling when the line is in reach and they certainly lived up to that form in the match. Clermont put in a poor performance, one of the worst in their club’s history.
Clermont had a nightmare start. Though both sides looked jittery at the start, Saracens ran in the first try after some brilliant handling work by Chris Ashton, 10 minutes into the game. This was Ashton’s tenth Heineken Cup try this season, equalling the record for tries in the tournament. He would set a new record later in the match.
Before Clermont could recover, they conceded a penalty try, after Clermont out-half Brock James interfered with the ball on the Clermont try-line. To add to their woes, James was sin-binned for 10 minutes. The call seemed a trifle harsh – a yellow card may have been warranted, but not a penalty try – however, the decision stuck and Saracens were 14-nil up after only 14 minutes.
Clermont seemed to improve with a man down and they started to threaten the Saracens line. Clermont ran in a try, but it was disallowed when the referee judged that Clermont players had obstructed the Saracens defence. Clermont could seemingly only score through penalties, getting two and clawing back to 14-6.
Saracens were quick to respond, scoring another try after some great running and skillfull work by Owen Farrell, who touched down and with Alex Goode kicking the conversion and adding a penalty, the first half finished with Saracens 24-6 ahead.
Clermont needed to be the first team to score points in the second half but they convincingly threatened the Saracens line. It wasn’t long before Saracen scored another try, through Ashton, setting a new record for a player in the Heineken Cup – 11 tries in a season and there’s still the final to play!
With the score now 29-6 and with 15 minutes left, the only question was how much of a fight Clermont were going to put up. Not much it seemed, the Clermont players had seemingly given up and Saracens were able to run in two more tries, the final score an emphatic 46-6!
A terrific performance by Saracens overall. Great running from the backs, especially Chris Ashton. Astute kicking from Alex Goode and Owen Farrell. Their performances were backed up by tremendous defence by the pack, especially Jacques Burger, who led the tackle count with 22, and deservedly won the man of the match award.
A tremendous performance and win by Saracens, they will go into their first Heineken Cup final with great momentum and hope to become the first English side since Leicester in 2002 to win both the Heineken Cup and the Aviva Premiership – Saracens are currently top of the premiership table.
The question is who they will face, Munster or Toulon? Toulon are current champions and favourites but Munster can never be underestimated. Apparently, Toulon are so confident of victory that they have already booked their hotel rooms for the final in Cardiff. That should give Munster added incentive to knock the French team from their perch.
One final and disappointing note about the match relates to the crowd. Under 30,000 people turned up to the game, meaning Twickenham was only just over a third full. This is a poor result for a Heineken Cup semi-final, especially seeing as Twickenham was sold out (over 80,000 people) earlier in the season for a premiership game between Saracens and Harlequins.
The low attendance seems to highlight the problem of having a ‘neutral’ stadium for Heineken Cup games (apart from the final). They just won’t get the crowds, especially in huge stadia like Twickenham.
The meagre crowd didn’t generate much noise either, which suggests that it would be better to utilise a smaller, packed stadium which would add to the atmosphere. It’s something that the European Champions Cup organisers should look into when the tournament starts next season.
Matt
Guest
Twickenham or Marsielle weren't 'neutral' stadiums. They were the designated stadiums for Sarries and Toulon because neither has a sufficiently large regular stadium. Allianz is only 10000 and Stade Mayol is 15000. So what that highlights is that neither side uses large crowds to fund their teams, instead relying on large benefactor hand outs to build super squads. Probably why many fans don't care a great deal for either side. The low crowd at Twickenham just shows how few people actually care about supporting the game and that those big one off crowds are due to heavy promotion and cut price ticket offers. It takes months of advertising etc to make the Big Games (Sarries vs Quins) work because none of the Aviva Premiership sides (Leicester aside) have many more than the minimum 18,000 regular fans.
Redsback
Guest
The sin-binning of Brock James was garbage and completely changed the flow of the game. It was a questionable penalty at best and to give a yellow card and penalty try was astonishing. Nigel Owen's performances continue to be sub-par and no one ever says anything. When is he going to be held accountable? What amazes me is the over reliance on super slow mo. If you look at what happened in real time, it looked fine, then you slow it right down, and then forget that what you are watching is actually 10 times slower than real time and then suddenly, knocking the ball over the dead-ball line with the back of your hand when you are probably trying to catch it looks deliberate and becomes a penalty try. Even assuming that he did it deliberately, surely the appropriate response is a penalty and a yellow card, not a penalty try. Had he not knocked it over the deadball line immediately, the most logical consequence would have been that he regathered the ball. I am a rugby fan, not a Clermont fan, but I was gob smacked and it completely wrecked the game. There really is no excuse for such poor refereeing with the availability of reviews such as they are.
Chan Wee
Guest
DECLAN MURPHY In both H-cup semis, the referees held center stage with their decisions, Owen gave a penalty try and sent a guy to the bin ; imo u gotto be superman to score a try beating the defender's hand. it was a double whammy, - 7 points + man advantage - which seemed to mentally affect CA. having sid that , they broke down faster than a pack of cards. Sarries wanted it much much more. then Barnes gave a try which after repeated replays I could not see on telly. maybe he and the touchie were so close to the action and have the proverbial eagle eyes. else they are from CSI :)