TOULON TRIUMPH

I said last week that Toulon would have to play incredibly well to win on Saturday, or Clermont would have to bottle it. It was a combination of both.

Clermont were victims of the pressure put on them. As many pundits were touting, to win they only had to overcome themselves, but they didn’t. Although they showed plenty of promising signs, they were never able to fully unleash all the talent at their disposal and in the end they almost shrunk into themselves at parts of the match, and they seemed to believe that they had the match won once they had scored their second try. The relenting attacks seemed to die away.

Perhaps I’m not giving enough credit to Toulon, but that is maybe because I’m not too fond of them as a club. Flaunting their cash and luring the big players to the south of France is something I’m not a fan of, no matter what club it is, and even though money can’t buy you happiness, it does appear that it can buy you Heineken Cups.

Nevertheless, the fight that Toulon showed was admirable. Once he grew into the game, Jonny Wilkinson excelled with the boot and kept his side in the match. Delon Armitage has to be credited for his great finish for Toulon’s only try too, even if his after match antics on Twitter didn’t cover him in any glory.

However, you cannot give Toulon too much credit for their win, or even for their knockout performances as a whole. They are possibly one of the most boring sides to watch in rugby if I’m being brutally honest, they only managed one try in their three knockout matches – Armitage’s try being that one. Contrast that to their opponents who amassed eight tries in three matches, six more than Saracens who were the second highest try scorers out of the eight teams.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the wrong side won that final. If trophies were awarded for whole season performances then Clermont would be sweeping up every single one, and there wouldn’t be anybody able to stop them. The style of rugby and the way have executed it has been incredible and easy on the eye. They have brushed aside all opposition and eased into the semi-finals of the Top14, as well as their first Heineken Cup final.

But it is in the knockout games that the cracks have begun to appear in the Jaunards’ armour. Faced with the relatively easy task of disposing Munster in the Heineken Cup semi-finals, even coach Vern Cotter admitted they struggled and became increasingly frustrated as the match went on. Despite having the lion’s share of possession the French side could not convert it into points and nearly threw the game away completely.

And of course, as we have seen, when faced with the prospect of a first Heineken Cup trophy they couldn’t cope with the pressure. Despite having 10,000 loyal fans cheering them on from the stands, the Auvergne team could not deliver and instead had to watch in agony as Wilkinson and co. lifted the coveted European prize.

Clermont will be back. They still have the Top14 to play for, and who knows they may have the chance to exact their revenge on Toulon in a potential final against them. They will win a trophy eventually, they have too much talent in their ranks not to. When they will though is another question entirely.

Looking ahead

Mark Anscombe and David Humphreys would have been interested spectators on Friday night at the RDS as Leinster eased to their first Amlin Challenge Cup win in the club’s history. What they will have learned however is rather mixed, because Joe Schmidt’s side didn’t yield much from their win.

It was professional to say the least. The clinical nature of Leinster’s performances was remarkable as they boasted a 100% record in the first half – three visits to the Stade 22 resulted in three tries. However the stats are slightly misleading. They don’t tell how easy Stade made the Dubliners job for them.

Poor defence and lacklustre attacking play from the French side meant that Leinster weren’t overly troubled and once they had established a solid lead, they were able to coast home, relying on Jonathan Sexton’s boot to maintain their large advantage. And in his penultimate game for his home province, Sexton proved that he is good enough to hold off the emerging Ian Madigan and that he should start for the Lions in Australia.

In all honesty, Stade lost the final rather than Leinster won it. As impressive as the ‘home’ side were, the incredible amount of unforced errors made by the Parisian team was detrimental to their efforts. They put themselves in the right positions but they could not land the decisive blow by getting a try, and as a result they found themselves playing catch up to a side that very rarely lose in finals.

Anscombe and Humphreys will have watched on in amusement as Ulster’s final opponents of the season were given an armchair ride to the Challenge Cup title. What effect that will have on the match this Saturday remains to be seen, but Stade’s intensity will not have impacted upon Leinster’s squad as much as the Ulster coaching staff would have liked.

Facing Leinster in a final is always a daunting task and you’ll take any help you can get to try and win. Had Stade given Leinster an 80 minute run for their money then that would have been perfect for Ulster. But as it is, that did not happen and Ulster have to focus all their efforts into finishing their season on a high, and they will have to do a lot better than Stade did last Friday.

Only four days to go!