Go marching on: Clermont
Related links
Teams
Also see
Leinster's 17-match unbeaten run in the Heineken Cup came to an end at Marcel Michelin as Clermont edged to a 15-12 Pool victory on Sunday.
The French side's success means they now stretch their home record to 51 games and also extend their advantage in Pool 5 to five points.
Leinster now must regroup before les Jaunards arrive in Dublin for the return fixture next Saturday, with a home win now imperative for the holders.
There were no tries in the game while only three points were scored in the second-half as it had the feel of an arm-wrestle between two giants.
In the end it was a smart drop from Brock James on 39 minutes that proved the difference as both Jonathan Sexton and Morgan Parra struck four penalties apiece in the closely-fought contest.
Parra gave Clermont a 9-6 lead by the half-hour mark with three shots at goal while his Leinster counterpart Sexton - playing his 100th competitive game for the Irish province - knocked over two.
Ireland international fly-half Sexton pulled his side level in the 33rd minute as Leinster dominated the game in an fine spell of patient rugby without being able to turn it into tries.
Referee Nigel Owens was then forced to give the two captains a warning that he would be forced to bin players soon with the number of infringements taking place in the teams 22.
It was from a resulting offence that Parra restored the hosts lead with another penalty for 12-9 and fly-half James dropped a goal on the stroke of half-time to give Clermont a 15-9 lead.
Sexton reduced the deficit in the 53rd minute as Leinster dominated again, but still came up short in crossing the line - replacement hooker Richardt Strauss not helping with three terrible throws at line-outs close to the Clermont line.
That was the only score in the half as the match somewhat failed to live up to its billing.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Pen: James 4
Drop: James
For Leinster:
Pen: Sexton 4
Clermont: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Aurélien Rougerie (c), 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Brock James, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Vincent Debaty.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Raphael Chaume, 18 Daniel Kotze, 19 Julien Pierre, 20 Julien Bardy, 21 Ludo Radosavljevic, 22 David Skrela, 23 Regan King.
Leinster: 15 Ian Madigan, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Gordon D'Arcy, 12 Andrew Goodman, 11 Isa Nacewa, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Issac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Damien Browne, 4 Leo Cullen (capt), 3 Mike Ross, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Michael Bent, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Fionn Carr, 23 Andrew Conway.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Sean Brickell (Wales), Jonathan Mason (Wales)
Television match official: Derek Bevan (Wales)
Timekeeper: Daniel Gillet (France)
Comments
Toulousain says...
(cont.)
You cite the Toulon article. If my crime is to sometimes post on Leinster pages, I'm afraid you were the one off-piste on the Toulon page, no? What's the difference? Perhaps, if you want to believe I am some kind of enigma, you could easily do some research into my posts by simply looking on the France pages. Or I had a very public and long series of revealing posts after the Arg-NZ game - do you really think all that soul-seraching was somehow for your benefit, hoping you would find it in the ether, or to try to trick you? Have a chat with Sincero too. We've exchanged some posts on Trevor Brennan who we know well in this town!
Anyhow, long story, I should really finish by saying that I enjoy reading your posts, I enjoy your conviction and knowledge about your team. It reminds me a lot of my son who is also a passionate man and was a fine rugbyman in his day (I'm turning 60 next year, and he is in his late 30s now, so I can't really call him a boy anymore)
Peace :-)
...and don't worry so much - it's all for fun remember...
(it could be worse - have you seen ST's injury list in the backline ahead of the ospreys game this weekend.....uurrrrgggghhhhh.....)
Posted 17:11 13th December 2012
Toulousain says...
Tout a fait Thierry. We will certainly never convince each other if we have suspicious minds! In any event, without becoming too philosophical, we do not need to justify who we are to each other, right? So why bother to try? After all, we have all the same possible doubts about who the other may be. But it seems a little far fetched for either of us to be somehow deliberately misleading the other. For what possible reason? You might apply Ockham's razor and say the truth might just be simpler, no?
What do we have in common? We both love rugby. We both love our home team. We both have passable written English (which you might correlate with some intelligence or a degree level education?, although maybe not for native speakers...). We both post on PR. We both make a mixture of long considered posts where we have sound knowledge, and shorter posts when we are being argumentative, or defending like-minded posters, or attacking perceived hubris. Apparently, we both get frustrated at being misunderstood, attacked, accused of trolling etc. We sound like fairly normal people, no? It is, after all, normal to have different layers to one's personality, to be in a different mood from time to time?
(cont.)
Posted 17:08 13th December 2012
leinster_goy says...
@Toulousain(e)
whatever. i'm afraid the jury is still out on your identity, since all of the things you mention in your post, supposedly proving that you come from toulouse, could well have been fabricated by a dedicated troll after a few google/wikipedia searches
like i said before, the way you troll pages that have nothing to do with toulouse - e.g. many pages on leinster pro12 matches - as well as the brief, trite comments you leave with a view to starting an argument (very similar to other troll comments), make me a touch sceptical (and, if you are indeed a female university professor, a little bit disturbed)
take for example the message you left on the toulon/jenkins article. you began by writing "hmm trolling again leinster_goy?", despite the fact that i had written 2 max-length articles setting out concrete, rational reasons why i hate toulonchester city, the very opposite of what a troll typically does (and what's it to you anyway, mrs. stade toulousain??). you then proceeded to make nasty, baseless comments insinuating that Leinster's success in europe could be explained in the same way as lance armstrong's cycling success. quite a contrast to this thread, where you're trying to pass yourself up as mr.mrs/ reasonable
so you can see why i have my suspicions
Posted 13:52 13th December 2012
Toulousain says...
Ah mon ami, language is indeed meant to try us as Babel intended.... Toulousain refers to the club I support, i.e. Stade, which is masculine. I am originally from Sainte-Foy, so I would not refer to myself as being from Toulouse precisely, but you are correct, a woman from Toulouse would be une Toulousaine, but Toulousaine on its own makes me think of a gate and garage door company here in France. Anyway I digress. I am flattered that you think my written English is good. I am a prof here at the Uni and have spent most of my working life using English since it is the international language of academia. My other passion is rugby. I found this site to be interesting because it is so different to rugbyrama, mainly because of the contributions of non-French people like yourself. Surely you might assume that any French person on this site would have some kind of international perspective, therefore might speak a little English, non?
Anyway, long story, I'm sorry you think I am a troll, I occasionally like to debunk hubris when I see it. Perhaps we define troll differently? To me, the troll is an uninformed person who is quick to judge and has little respect for other people's views. My philosophy, I hope, would be closer to Voltaire when he said "I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!"
Anyway, good luck saturday, and see you in the final maybe?
Posted 17:32 11th December 2012
leinster_goy says...
@Toulousain(e)?
it was strange to read that you are a "ST woman". as someone who is fluent in french, i know that gender is a fundamantal, crucial element of the french language. even one small mix-up between masculine and feminine is enough to draw a look of confusion, and even derisory contempt, from native francophones. a french woman from paris would never refer to herself as "parisien", ditto a young bordeaux woman as "bordelais". if you actually are a french woman, shouldn't you have posted under the name "Toulousaine"? also, your written english seems to be of suspiciously high standard for a french person. i've met dutch and scandinavians, for whom english is basically a second language, whose written english skills were nonetheless quite ropey. i should also add that your troll post on the toulon/jenkins article a couple of weeks ago (which you will notice i didn't dignify with a response) bore a striking similarity, both in its tone and content, to provocative comments made by other troll(s) on this website. the plot thickens...
@froggy73
what a sad, petty individual you are. you seem to do nothing on this forum except attack me, apparently for the simple reason that i'm a Leinster fan who loves my team. maybe you should heed the eloquent advice you recently gave to me and "get a life"
Posted 16:01 11th December 2012
J_HDK says...
Johntheref. - nope. You will see that happen in all games, from almost every team, as exuberant clearing out of defenders about to join a ruck and compete for the ball. I'm talking about taking out the first defender. Ball is available, contest is over at the ruck and the defender is unconnected to the ruck.You will never see it as such a deliberate tactic as you do from Clermont. Particularly on attack close to the line. Taking out the first defender and leaving a hole. Perfect example from last year Clermont try at home V Ulster.
Posted 13:22 10th December 2012
Cabhan says...
I thought this was a seriously physical game, but lacking in quality. Leinster were attacking way too close in and were being smashed by the massive Clermont pack every time. I don't think either team looked particularly great and both were fairly panicky when the game was there for the taking. Sexton didn't have his best day.
I can see Leinster putting in a massive performance this week and possibly getting a bp win. They really need to if they want to win the group and they can be a different side in front of a packed Lansdowne crowd.
Posted 13:05 10th December 2012
Gleek says...
@rosbif - wow my apologies. Given that Leinster had scrapped a 3 point win against them I had presumed the fixture list was the reverse of what it is. It seems that Leinster may be in for a very tough game in the South West of England after Christmas then.
Posted 11:49 10th December 2012
Rosbif says...
Re next week, I wonder whether we'll see a more open game. Pressure will be more on Leinster as the home team to make the play (which we saw yesterday they are quite capable of doing) and to get the win. Meanwhile, ASM are very well set to play a counter-attack type of game. And bodies will be tired in the final 10 minutes with a 6 day turnaround. So I wouldn't bet on there being no tries!!
Gleek, ASM have already gone to Exeter, and came away with a bonus point win (although I agree that Exeter do defend their home patch with great vigour - just not that time I guess). Other than next week in Dublin, ASM's other away game is Scarlets.
new_j4a, The cricket has indeed been good! Then again, rugby was always my first love.... tries or no tries....
potemkine, I think Toulousain(e) means "respect" when she says "love to hate" although it is a peculiarly English turn of phrase?
:-)
Posted 10:14 10th December 2012
jontheref says...
lacroix
I am also amised by the suggestions of "home town" officiating.
Only saw a gagle of leister players berating the TJ, M. Mason, who quite rightly sent them on their way.
I thought owens was very leinient with leinster scrum.
resetting for their infringments, PK when Clermont did. 6 points from this facet.
J_HDK
Take another look, leinster were going way beyond the breakdown and doing exactly what you say.
In fact cullen went into the Clermont changing room at half time, as he thought he was playing on their side of the ruck!
Posted 09:52 10th December 2012
new_j4a says...
More multiples of 3....Sincero's team beaten at least....yawn. Maybe next week we'll see a try....or maybe the cricket would be more exciting
Posted 07:59 10th December 2012
Gleek says...
Think we will see the reverse result next week with Leinster edging out a close game. I do believe that Exeter away for Clermont will be a much tougher game than many people think. They have a very tough pack of forwards and are actually reminiscent of a T14 club in the way they ferociously defend their own patch.
Posted 23:14 09th December 2012
lacroix says...
very interesting match. and as leinster goy says it does serve notice- but not in the way he means: leinster aren't likely to defend their title on this showing. and i dont think clermont will win it either.
neither team played very well- clermont were dreadful by their standards but still won, and deservedly so. leinster never really looked like scoring a try- how many have they scored in the HC this season? clermont were stilted and made so many unforced errors...but still as previous posts have pointed out fofana sliced open their midfield at his leisure, and without kearney leinster are half the team , especially under a high ball.
interesting suggestion that there was 'home town ' ref decisions. i thought Owens had a less than excellent game by his standards, and some of his decisions were strikingly inconsistent- for instance pulling back parra for taking the tap 3 m from the spot, and then letting sexton's cross field effort taken further from the spot stand (admittedly that favoured clermont but only because it was a poor decision and execution by sexton. and had paara been allowed to tap and go it looked like a clear chance ). and there were a number of strange inconsistencies at the breakdown and tackle to the detriment of both teams. i dont think leinster can argue they were hard done by.. all in all the better team won.just.
looking forward to the return match.
Posted 22:43 09th December 2012
potemkine says...
@Toulousain, I don't think we love to hate Clermont, there's no hatred between us, but a reciprocal esteem. Respect is what I always felt between supporters of both teams.
Posted 20:29 09th December 2012
froggy73 says...
@Toulousain, or should I say Toulousaine, can I get 2 tickets to see our favourite team ? ;-)
Posted 20:19 09th December 2012
Rosbif says...
....hmmm, as froggy73 says leinster_goy, go easy on the "home town officiating" and "intimidation of officials" cliches. Nigel Owens is no mug. And this isn't the 1970s!!
Posted 18:56 09th December 2012
J_HDK says...
Something that has astounded me over the last three years re: ASM Clermont in H Cup matches and Top 14 games is their offensive-blocking tactic. Taking out defensive players not connected to the ruck. (ie offside) It's really blatant and consistent. I don't think I have ever seen them penalised for it. Baffling!
Posted 18:51 09th December 2012
Jcahill1 says...
@ froggy73
Stop turning this into another insulting match between two fans. Focus on the rugby please.
Posted 18:37 09th December 2012
froggy73 says...
@leinster_goy: I'd be worry if I were you. Clermont put one of the worst performance today, and still won... just for you to meditate.
I was waiting for you to throw your anger at the referee like all basics brainwashed fans do... well, here you did, thank you to prove me right.
Other top european teams take note: this Leinster team are beatable. Clermont proved it today.
C'mon Clermont, you can't play worse next week that you did today. So you have reason to be optimistic !
Posted 18:23 09th December 2012
Toulousain says...
By the way, as an indication of the strength of ASM and its fan support (and it's rivalry with Toulouse), I tried to get tickets to this game the day the draw was made. My husband is employed by ST. As such he can get tickets to any game, anywhere, usually free, and usually the best seats in the house with meeting players afterwards and dinner at the Club, etc
Guess what? They said No, because they wanted to give priority to Leinster fans and dignitaries in their "away" allocations. Now THAT is class!
As a lifelong ST woman, I have to admit ASM are the club we admire and love to hate most. Followed closely by Leinster I might add...... then possibly the ABs, but they're not quite as good, and they don't really have pride in that jersey hehehe....(eh, @kitch?)
Posted 18:23 09th December 2012