Clermont head for Final
Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:35
Beaten finalists last year, log-leaders this year, Clermont Auvergne duly knocked out fourth-placed Perpignan, beating them 21-7 in the heat at Stade Vélodrome in Marseilles with 55 000 spectators to watch them.
That means that Clermont Auvergne will play either Toulouse or Stade Français in the Final in Stade de France next Saturday.
They scored two tries to one, both by the tall, speedy Fijian three-quarter Napolioni Nalaga.
Unlike the seesaw Pro D2 final, this was a match the Auvergnats controlled. At half-time they led 16-0.
First Brock James kicked a dropped goal and then he kicked a penalty goal before Nalaga broke free of Nicolas Laharrague and strode off for a try which James (inevitably) converted. Just before half-time James kicked a third penalty.
Early in the second half Nalaga got away from replacement Christophe Manas ands ran over 50 metres to score. Surprisingly James missed the conversion. 21-0.
Laharrague scored a try for the Catalans and Percy Montgomery converted. 21-7 with just under 20 minutes to play.
Afterwards the Clermont Auvergne captain Aurélien Rougerie said: "It was a difficult match in terms of intensity levels but we managed things well and in attack and counter-attack, we are very satisfied.
"We were dominating in the first half but had to be patient. There is no euphoria in the team because there is another big match ahead of us."
Scorers:
For Clermont Auvergne:
Tries: Nalaga 2
Con: James
Pens: James 3
For Perpignan:
Try: Laharrague
Con: Montgomery
Teams:
Clermont Auvergne: 15 Benoît Baby, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Marius Joubert, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Elvis
Vermeulen, 7 Alexandre Audebert, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Thibault Privat, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Thomas Domingo, 18 Christophe Samson, 19 Sam Broomhall, 20 John Senio, 21 Seremaia Baï, 22 Anthony Floch
Perpignan: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Adrien Planté, 13 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 12 Gavin Hume, 11 Julien Candelon, 10 Nicolas Laharrague, 9 Nicolas Durand, 8 Henry Tuilagi, 7 Gerrie Britz, 6 Viliani Vaki, 5 Christophe Porcu, 4 Rimas Alvarez-Kairélis, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Perry Freshwater.
Replacements: 16 Guillem Guirado, 17 Kisi Pulu, 18 Sébastien Chobet, 19 Nathan Hines, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 David Mélé, 22 Christophe Manas
Referee: Christophe Berdos
Touch judges: David Rosich, Bruno Bessot
Assessor: Hubert Dubes, Claude Rouve, Yves Bressy
Television match official: Daniel Dartigeas
