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Saracens swamp Clermont to reach first – and last – Heineken Cup final Saracens swamp Clermont to reach first – and last – Heineken Cup final
(about 1 hour later)
Saracens cruised into their first Heineken Cup final after crushing the French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne in record-breaking fashion at Twickenham. The Premiership leaders never looked back after building an 18-point interval advantage through a penalty try and touchdowns by the wing Chris Ashton and the fly-half Owen Farrell. Never mind the acres of empty seating, Saracens turned up. What was expected to be a close contest turned into the Heineken Cup's biggest semi-final blowout in its 19th and final year. No team had reached the 40-point mark at this stage before and – if two early refereeing decisions helped the Premiership leaders gain momentum in the first half – they were immeasurably superior to a Clermont team that is as passive on the road as it is supreme at home.
Ashton's second try after the break gave him a new record of 11 touchdowns in one European season, while the substitutes Chris Wyles and Tim Streather also scored, and Saracens could even afford for Farrell to pass on goal-kicking duties to the full-back Alex Goode. Clermont had beaten Saracens 22-3 at Vicarage Road in the 2012 quarter-final, an even more chastening experience for the English club than last year's defeat by Toulon at this stage here. Most teams who have been successful in Europe have been so after years of pain, but the pace of Sarries' evolution this year has been such that it will take something to deny them a league and cup double.
Farrell had not practised while he recovered from a foot injury and Goode slotted five conversions plus a penalty as Clermont were reduced to rubble. They have relied in years past on Owen Farrell, and his right boot in particular. The outside-half played, not being able to take kicks at goal because of the foot injury he had suffered against Northampton this month. He was limping after five minutes as a consequence of a long raking kick and, from then on, Alex Goode was used to hoof the ball out of hand as well as off the tee.
The centre Marcelo Bosch added a long-range penalty for good measure, with the Clermont scrum-half Morgan Parra landing two first-half strikes as Saracens closed out a remarkable 40-point success. Farrell still played an integral part in a remarkable opening half that shattered the stereotype of semi-finals being tense encounters. Saracens kicked deep from the start, not only minimising the risk of Sitiveni Sivivatu and Napolioni Nalaga running the ball back, but ensuring that return kicks struggled to make it to the halfway line, giving them a platform from which to attack.
The runaway Premiership leaders will meet Jonny Wilkinson's Toulon, the holders, or Munster, twice European champions, in next month's Millennium Stadium final. The second semi is in Marseille on Sunday. It was how they scored their first try, eight minutes into a game that, until then, had been cluttered with unforced errors. Goode's kick to within a few metres of the Clermont line resulted in Saracens regaining the ball just inside their own half. Despite a feature of their game being an aggressiveness in defence, led by the flanker Jacques Burger, that felled ball-carriers before they got into their stride and without time to offload, they attacked with alacrity when opportunity beckoned, especially down the narrow side.
There could be few complaints from Clermont, last season's beaten finalists, who were desperate to reach a second successive Heineken final in Vern Cotter's farewell season as coach before he takes charge of the Scotland national team this summer. Clermont seemed to have prepared for different opponents. When Goode, Schalk Brits and Brad Barritt combined down the left, the defensive alignment was erratic, some players shooting out of the line, others hanging up, and when Chris Ashton, looking nothing like the player haunted by self-doubt earlier in the season, received an inside pass, having roamed from his opposite wing, he had a clear run to the line. It was a try of ruthless simplicity.
Once Ashton pounced for his 10th Heineken try of the campaign, matching the former Brive wing Sébastien Carrat's total when the French club were crowned European champions 17 years ago, Saracens never looked back. Clermont tried to play slowly and deliberately, using their big wings Sivivatu and Nalaga to force their way over the gain line, but they found Burger, Brits, Kelly Brown and Mako Vunipola in their way and on the rare occasions they found width, Farrell and Barritt formed an iron curtain.
A contentious penalty try followed but when Farrell crossed eight minutes before half-time there was no way into the contest for a Clermont side that never left second gear. Burger played as if all his nerve endings had been numbed, making him immune to pain. He made 28 tackles during his 69 minutes on the field, invariably the first line of defence around the fringes. His face tells the story of hundreds of such performances and if his disregard for his own safety has been a feature of Saracens in recent years, the Premiership leaders are now as menacing with the ball as they are without it.
The only disappointment for Saracens and tournament officials was a two-thirds empty Twickenham, that raised the question of why European Rugby Cup organisers did not take the game to the nearby Madejski Stadium in Reading, among other alternative venues. Clermont were unhappy with two decisions that tilted the match towards Saracens. The first, after Morgan Parra had replied to Ashton's first try with a 45-metre penalty, came after 13 minutes, when last year's beaten finalists won a ruck near their own line. The attempted clearance of Lee Byrne, who was off the pace all afternoon, was charged down by Mako Vunipola and as it started its descent deep behind the French club's goalline Brock James and Marcelo Bosch tried to catch the ball.
Saracens made a dream start in blustery conditions as Ashton claimed his season record-equalling Heineken try following superb approach work by Goode, the hooker Schalk Brits and the centre Brad Barritt. They got in each other's way and James then flicked it dead with his left hand. The referee, Nigel Owens, referred the incident to the TV match official, Gareth Simmonds, and watched replays on the big screen. He alone decided that the act was not only worth a yellow card because of its calculation, but merited a penalty try because Saracens would probably have scored had the ball been allowed to bounce. The first decision had the spirit of the law on its side, but the second required a few leaps of faith. James was far closer than any other player to the ball and would have been so had it bounced, while the next player along, with Bosch on the ground, also had a white jersey: Thomas Domingo.
Goode landed the touchline conversion with his first kick after taking the tee from Farrell and, although Parra opened Clermont's account shortly afterwards, drama quickly ensued. Clermont's Wales international full-back Lee Byrne saw an attempted defensive clearance partially charged down and when the fly-half Brock James challenged Bosch for possession in the air, it led to a penalty try. Sarries were 14-3 ahead, but Clermont, a man down, enjoyed their best period of the match. Parra kicked his second penalty after Burger infringed at a ruck and then came a second contentious decision. Benson Stanley, who was otherwise a poor replacement for the injured Aurelien Rougerie, crossed the line after a period of pressure, but Owens referred the score upstairs because he suspected Farrell had been blocked off the ball by Damien Chouly. The try was ruled out, yet – six months before, in the same spot on the field – Farrell had been allowed a try against Australia that had been sent to the television match official for adjudication after Dylan Hartley's suspected block on Stephen Moore. The decision then was that it made no difference: the same could have applied this time, but such are the vagaries of sport.
Owens went to the television match official, Gareth Simmonds, for guidance and the ruling was that James had deliberately nudged the ball behind the deadball line, preventing the probability of a try. The second blow left Clermont bereft of stuffing. Their only joy had been up front, but they kept losing the ball in contact and, after Brits forced a turnover, Farrell scored another try that was referred upstairs and Goode added a penalty to make the interval score 24-6.
Goode added the extras for a second time and Clermont's sense of injustice continued as Owens ruled out a Benson Stanley score for crossing in midfield by their flanker Damien Chouly. There was to be no comeback by Clermont, who conceded three more tries after the break after a long-range Bosch penalty. Ashton got the first, setting a tournament record of 11 in a season, created the next for Chris Wyles, after yet another turnover, and was used as a decoy by Tim Streather in the final minute to leave Clermont down and routed.
Saracens, meanwhile, continued going about their business, and a third try arrived nine minutes before half-time that again needed TMO approval. The Clermont defence was stretched as Saracens moved possession wide and Ashton's inside pass found Farrell, who initially appeared to have knocked on before gathering a kind bounce, touching down and celebrating. But video replays showed the ball bounced off Farrell's knee and a try was rightly awarded, with Goode following his conversion by kicking a penalty to put Saracens 24-6 ahead as half-time approached.
Clermont had it all to do after the break as they strived to reach a second successive Heineken final, but Saracens, in contrast, just had to preserve a healthy advantage. And when the out-of-favour England international Ashton sealed the deal 15 minutes from time, Saracens could think ahead to Cardiff after a one-sided contest few could have predicted.
They became the fifth English club to contest a Heineken final after Leicester, Bath, Northampton and Wasps before the tournament changes course next term and becomes the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Clermont, meanwhile, could only reflect on a game that got away from them far too quickly, and Cotter will head to pastures new unquestionably without a sense of fulfilment.
There was still time for Wyles and Streather to rub further salt into a gaping Clermont wound with Saracens' fifth and sixth tries that completed a stunning effort by England's current top club.
Paul Rees's match report to follow