Preview: Top 14 Final
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:57
France are playing in Australia on Saturday. Two French clubs are playing in the final of the Top 14 at Stade de France on Saturday, Clermont Auvergne and Toulouse. There will be more French interest in the club match.
After all Australia is a long way from France and the team called France some way from the best team that France can pout in the field. After all the players from the top four teams in the French championship were not included in the team for Australia.
There is even a claim that Clermont Auvergne and Stade Toulousain would each beat the team playing in Australia!
Certainly the Final is between the best two teams in France - teams packed with top internationals.
Trains from Clermont-Ferrand and Toulouse to the capital are booked out for the match. Flags will wave and a noise will be made, and the Auvergnats will come again in desperate hope.
They have played in eight Finals and lost each one of them, most recently the last Final when Stade Français pipped them just before the end.
Toulouse on the other hand have won 16 Finals, most recently in 2001. They have played Clermont Auvergne, as Montferrand, three times in Finals and won each one of them, most recently in 2001.
Finals between the two clubs
1994: Toulouse vs Montferrand, 22-16
1999: Toulouse vs Montferrand, 15-11
2001: Toulouse vs Montferrand, 34-22
The two teams have met twice this year and Clermont Auvergne won both matches - 23-11 in Toulouse and 21-17.
Toulouse started off like a house on fire and looked set to stay on the top of the table. Then the house started to crack and eventually Clermont ended five points above them on the table.
All of that is now consigned to history. This is a Final, a one-off match, each team capable of winning it. But what it does say is that Clermont Auvergne, who have never won the Bouclier of Brennus., is quite capable of beating Toulouse who have often won it.
That Toulouse learnt the disappointment of losing when Munster beat them in the Heineken Cup Final, may well act as an extra spur to the men of the south.
Toulouse would probably prefer to have Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Yannick Nyanga and Salvatore Perugini in their side. but still they are a side of great power. Elissalde is travelling to Paris with the team but is not in the squad that Guy Novès has named. Should he not play Yannick Jauzion will slot into his place at flyhalf, as he did admirably against Stade Français in the semifinal in Bordeaux. Lo and behold, he will play!
Clermont were the top try-scorers in the Top 14 this season with the flying Fijian Napolioni Nalaga the individual who scored the most tries. Their backs score tries. But a backline with Jauzion, in form Maleli Kunavore, Cédric Heymans, Yves Donguy, Florian Fritz and in form Maxime Medard.
As the backs weigh up well against each other, so do the forwards 0- international front row against international front row, international locks against international locks and international loose forwards against international loose forwards.
The two teams in fact weigh up well. Victory depends on who takes chances better and who has the rub of the green more favourably.
There is place for individual brilliance and the individual brilliance may just come from Jauzion and Heymans above all.
There will be some interesting individual clashes, perhaps above all at scrumhalf, two touch characters in Byron Kelleher and Pierre Mignoni. That could be an explosive contest.
Prediction: Impossible, though may it just be the year of the Auvergnats?
Toulouse starting XV: 15 Cédric Heymans, 14 Maxime Médard, 13 Maleli Kunavore, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Yves Donguy, 10 Jean-Baptist Elissalde, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou (captain), 5 Fabien Pelous, 4 Patricio Albacete, 3 Daan Human, 2 William Servat, 1 Omar Hasan.
Toulouse squad:
Forwards: Omar Hasan, Daan Human, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Yohan Montes, William Servat, Virgile Lacombe, Alberto Vernet Basualdo, Fabien Pelous, Patricio Albacete, Romain Millo-Chluski, Grégory Lamboley, Thierry Dusautoir, Finau Maka, Shaun Sowerby, Jean Bouilhou (captain)
Backs: Byron Kelleher, Vincent Courrent, Gaffie du Toit, Yannick Jauzion, Maleli Kunavore, Florian Fritz, Manu Ahotaeiloa, Yves Donguy, Cédric Heymans, Maxime Médard
Clermont Auvergne starting XV: Clermont Auvergne: 15 Benoît Baby, 14 Aurélien Rougerie (captain), 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Marius Joubert, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 Brock James, 9 Pierre Mignoni, 8 Elvis Vermeulen, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Alexandre Audebert, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Thibault Privat, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Laurent Emmanuelli.
Clermont Auvergne squad:
Forwards: Laurent Emmanuelli, Thomas Domingo, Davit Zirakashvili, Mario Ledesma, John Smit, Jamie Cudmore, Christophe Samson, Thibault Privat, Loic Jacquet, Alexandre Audebert, Julien Bonnaire, Sam Broomhall, Elvis Vermeulen.
Backs: Pierre Mignoni, John Senio, Brock James, Seremaia Baï, Gonzalo Canale, Marius Joubert, Napolioni Nalaga, Julien Malzieu, Aurélien Rougerie (captain), Benoît Baby, Anthony Floch.
Date: Saturday, 28 June 2008
Kick-off: 20.45 (Paris time; 19.45 GMT)
Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Expected weather conditions: Overcast with a 20% chance of rain, a high of 24°C, dropping to 13°C and a wind from the southwest, from down Toulouse way but not very strong.
Referee: Eric Darrière
Touch judges: Christophe Berdos, Pascal Gauzere
Assessor: Clément Grau, Daniel Irazoqui, Bernard Perez
Television match official: Daniel Gillet
