European Rugby Champions Cup Final, 2 May

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ASM Clermont Auvergne v RC Toulon
Saturday 2 May 2015
KO 17:00
Twickenham Stadium

Referee Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch Judge 1 Wayne Barnes (England)
Touch Judge 2 George Clancy (Ireland)
Fourth Official JP Doyle (England)
TMO Graham Hughes (England)

Citing Commissioner Jeff Mark (Wales)

Live on telly somewhere

Form:

ASM Clermont Auvergne
18/04/15 - ASM Clermont 13 - 9 Saracens
04/04/15 - ASM Clermont 37 - 5 Saints
25/01/15 - ASM Clermont 18 - 6 Saracens

RC Toulon
19/04/15 - Toulon 25 - 20 Leinster
05/04/15 - Toulon 32 - 18 Wasps
24/01/15 - Scarlets 3 - 26 Toulon

Teams:

ASM Clermont Auvergne

Abendanon; Nakaitaci, Davies, Fofana, Nalaga; Lopez, Parra, Debaty, Kayser, Zirakashvili, Cudmore, Vahaamahina, Bonnaire, Chouly, Lee.

Replacements: Delany for Nakaitaci (67), Rougerie for Nalaga (54), Radosavljevic for Parra (56), Domingo for Debaty (47), Ulugia for Kayser (63), Ric for Zirakashvili (66), Pierre for Vahaamahina (67), Bardy for Lee (54).

RC Toulon

Halfpenny; Mitchell, Bastareaud, J Hernandez, Habana; Giteau, Tillous-Borde; Chiocci, Guirado, Hayman, Botha, Williams, J Smith, S Armitage, Masoe.

Replacements: Wulf for J. Hernandez (66), Menini for Chiocci (48), Orioli for Guirado (63), Chilachava for Hayman (63), Taofifenua for Botha (47), Fernandez Lobbe for J Smith (58).

Not Used: Bruni, Michalak.

This reminds me of the Saints v Leinster final a few years back. If something that's the total opposite of another thing can remind you of it.

Ugh...

Clermont just don't win finals. Bendy shows why he is mot international class.

Bad decision from Abendanon...

That will send Clermont back to the dressing room dispirited/fired up (delete as appropriate)

What kind of dopes are Clermont..every flippin time...

Clermont are not great in defence. Toulon are making a lot of ground through their large selection of big ball carriers.

Why kick the ball away? So silly by Clermont and Abendanon!

Come on Dayglo, ask Roberts if he's joining Quins?!!

Roberts has been confirmed hasn't he Yappy?

Wilkinson, Greenwood and Cockerill making it easier for Lancaster to ignore Abendanon. Sky just did a play-by-play with them showing how the full-back's decision to kick was a disaster.

Toulon started the second half well but couldn't do anything with their possession. A silly moment by Clermont gave Halfpenny a penalty to give Toulon a lead of 11-19 with 30 minutes to go.

Commentator saying Clermont need to throw caution to the wind but that sounds a bit premature with half an hour left.

Cockerill doesn't agree that Clermont have to go headless but does think they need to try new attacking ideas since Toulon have them shackled.

Magic from Bendy!

Easy as you like, Nick Abendanon.

What a strange passage of play. Abendanon make up for his half-time error by fielding a kick from Habana, chipping it back and collecting to score.

What is happening with the restarts and Clermont, don't think I've ever seen a team so bad a catching

Clermont do not do restarts apparently.

Ali Williams just didn't have enough control to score straight from the restart.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Roberts has been confirmed hasn't he Yappy?

Strongly linked but nothing confirmed by the club Pooly, I have all my fingers and toes crossed though

Rugby Fan wrote:Ali Williams just didn't have enough control to score straight from the restart.

90% sure it was a forward pass before that too

Not only does Scott Quinnell think Clermont were offside for their try, he thinks Williams should have been awarded his denied try.

yappysnap wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Ali Williams just didn't have enough control to score straight from the restart.

90% sure it was a forward pass before that too

Can't say I was looking, and I'm sure Quinnell wasn't.

That's some try by Mitchell.

Well that was a certain try

5 missed tackles from Clermont there. Appalling defence.

Confusion over whether Halfpenny got the conversion. Scoreboard said no, then yes, then no. Gap remains six points, so Clermont are one play away from grabbing a lead.

yappysnap wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Roberts has been confirmed hasn't he Yappy?

Strongly linked but nothing confirmed by the club Pooly, I have all my fingers and toes crossed though

I read a Welsh piece that it's a done deal yesterday.

Nice break from Delaney the Falcon

I thought this would be a bore fest but it hasn't been!

Toulon win

Clermont will never win a CC.

Ugh. Another win for Toulon.

Another crime scene Dr Watson...yes Holmes looks like another case of serial choking.

Meh.


I really hope that next year brings a bit of variety to the ERCC final.

Clermont just didnt have any solutions to break Toulon defense and threw the ball away. Lopez clearly isnt international quality. Another trophy for the southeast mercs.

Why Clermont didn't throw cash at Sexton is beyond me...

Unbelievable number of lost finals for Clermont now, what is it, one French title in their history, and about 30 finals

FFS it's the hope that kills you

Best final in years. Really enjoyed that one. Some cracking tries and brilliant defence too.

Well done Toulon.

Clermont just a bit lacking when it matters.

Abendanon and Armitage both had some excellent moments.

A great showpiece to shame the naysayers

Ali Williams on Drew Mitchell's try "I've never loved an Australian so much".

The older Bakkies Botha gets, the more he sounds like Schwarzenegger.

Habana, holding his 10 month old son Timothy, admits he made a mistake with his clearance kick and jokingly wonders whether he might have given Abendanon a sniff of an England spot.

And to think I wanted Jamie Cudmore to get the trophy.

With Botha, Williams and Hayman all calling time, there's no doubt Toulon can bring in players with better fitness, and even skills, but it'll be interesting to see whether they can also continue to maintain the big match composure.

Wilkinson alluded to this when he pointed out that any new players will have to make the team in their own image, not rely on past achievements to get things done (a point he knows only too well from his own career).

I thought that was the best final for quite some time. Thought Owens was rather generous to Steffon (who I feel was rather lazy with some showy moments) not sure using your gut as leverage really counts as supporting your own bodyweight.

Rugby Fan wrote:With Botha, Williams and Hayman all calling time, there's no doubt Toulon can bring in players with better fitness, and even skills, but it'll be interesting to see whether they can also continue to maintain the big match composure.

Wilkinson alluded to this when he pointed out that any new players will have to make the team in their own image, not rely on past achievements to get things done (a point he knows only too well from his own career).

Regardless whether one agrees with or disagrees with Toulon's spending policies, there was something special seeing tough old boys like Botha, Williams and Hayman out there together. Also seeing the Juan Smith whose recovery from catastrophic injury was nothing short of inspirational and a force of will still enjoying his game like a kid.

Yes, Toulon is a team created by the highest bidder, so to speak. But the unmitigated joy on the player's faces shows what the victory means, and all that money comes in second place to that amazing feeling.

Best final since 2011. Toulon were clearly willing to play, throwing offloads like nobody's business, not your typical final game. Quality of kicking was quite poor from both sides, but the counters were good.

Was routing for Clermont like most, but Toulon deserved it in the end. Clermont were falling off too many tackles, and I don't know what they were thinking kicking it while pressing for a try at 79 mins.

Hope next year we see a few more genuine contenders emerge. Bath's QF exit should stand to them, Munster may come back into the reckoning, as could Ulster.

Interesting to see Owens reffing Steffan Armitage. Had any other ref been on the pitch we would have seen a lot more Toulon penalties for Clermont holding on. For all the plaudits Owens gets, I think his style can spoil competition at the breakdown at times (unless there's a case for sealing off, which he's hot on). Makes for a more exciting game, but also a more league-ish game at the same time.

I think teams could do better to adapt to him. Unless play is near the defending team's try line, he'll need an extremely clear case for holding on to penalise the attacking team. My guess is he's trying to force the competing player to actually steal the ball for a turnover, rather than pretend to struggle to steal the ball for a penalty.

LondonTiger wrote:I thought that was the best final for quite some time. Thought Owens was rather generous to Steffon (who I feel was rather lazy with some showy moments) not sure using your gut as leverage really counts as supporting your own bodyweight.

Also thought right at the end Armitage should have been penalised for lazy running as Clermont attacked - and Owens was right beside it. Whatever though, Clermont simply didn't deserve to win - too many unforced errors, Abendanon's brain fart in H1 over time, and Lopez cross kicking when they had to keep possession.

Just in the door. Great game of rugby. Don't think the lads in front of us watched two minutes of rugby all day. They were up for beer every few minutes and spent the rest of the time taking photos of themselves.