By Darraghgirl
April 24 2014

One of the best away trips we ever did was to Clermont Ferrand. Clermont is a beautiful, old, walled city with narrow cobbled streets that open out into gorgeous hidden little squares, churches and fountains. Above it looms the Puy du Dome, one of 80 sleeping volcanos in the area and the Massif Central.

. Clermont Ferrand is bicephalous (no I’d never heard of the word either!) which means 2 towns developing together and united over the centuries, the ancient Clermont and the medieval Montferrand. Everywhere we went, the twin towns were festooned with the yellow and blue of Clermont Auvergne. Someone had even scaled the statue of Vercingetorix in the Place de Jaude and affixed a Clermont flag to his sword. Touring the beautiful Auvergne, every café, every garage, every shop flew the Jaune et Bleu of Clermont. The atmosphere at Stade Marcel Michelin was like nothing else. Not even Ravenhill matched it. The entire stadium shook as the fans chanted “ASM” for their team. Partisan yes but threatening no. (ASM by the way stands for Association Sportive Montferrandaise reflecting Clermont’s old name “Montferrand”)

And we could have won that one! Back in 2010, in the hands of Brendan Venter, we were taking our first tentative steps back to the top of Club Rugby. We had qualified for the Heineken by finishing 3^rd in the Premiership then a narrow, heart breaking defeat to Leicester in the final but everyone knew something special was happening at Saracens. We had been rewarded with the toughest of tough groups – Leinster, Clermont and Racing Metro. We needed to believe. We didn’t quite. Jonny Sexton and Leinster ended our unbeaten record at Wembley so an away game in Clermont was always going to be tough. We were beaten 25-10, a game where we paid a heavy price for our European naivety, but we were learning. Clermont won the reverse fixture that season scoring 4 tries to 1 but by then Sarries had nothing to play for and even that win wasn’t enough for Clermont to qualify ahead of Leinster.

The two teams met again in the quarter final the following season. By now we had triumphed at Twickenham in the Premiership final and finished top of our Heineken group but Clermont came to Watford to teach the young upstarts a lesson. Brock James came off the bench to score 17 of Clermont’s 22 points with Sarries having just 3 points from Owen’s boot to show for their afternoon’s work. As their players overwhelmed us on the pitch so their wonderful fans out shone us on the terraces. Decked in yellow and blue they brought the sunshine of the Auvergne to a grotty bit of north London. We might have been flying high in England but we realised that the top of Scafell Pike is way short of the summit of Mont Blanc. Amazingly that was Clermont’s first Heineken semi final but they lost on home soil (although in Bordeaux not Clermont) to those true European thoroughbreds Leinster when at the death Wesley Fofana dropped the ball on Leinster’s try line. Did they choke?

Last year Clermont took one step further and reached the final where they faced their fellow Frenchmen from Toulon. They finished top seeds, emerging unbeaten from the pool stage. They defeated Montpelier and then Munster at home before travelling to Dublin for the final. It was a game Clermont dominated for 60 minutes, a game, by all counts, they should have won. But they didn’t. Toulon sneaked a 16-15 win through a Delon Armitage try on 63 minutes which Johnny converted from the touchline. Clermont had the ball in the Toulon half for most of the last 10 minutes but couldn’t score and in the end Johnny charged down Skrela’s drop goal attempt to secure the win. Did they choke? They are certainly getting a bit of a reputation for loosing big games they should have won, especially away from home.

This season was not quite so plain sailing for Clermont. They lost their first round match away to Racing and have had to play catch-up ever since. However home and away victories over Scarlets and notably Quins put them back in pole position and a final round home demolition of Racing gave them a home quarter final against Leicester Tigers. They won, just, but Tigers came so very close to an unprecedented win in Clermont. Did they choke again? Maybe. Undoubtedly at home they are formidable. They haven’t lost at Marcel Michelin for 76 games. But their away form this year is decidedly iffy. They have lost 10 of their 12 away games in the Top 14, beating only Perpignan and drawing with Castres, and sit 3^rd in the table behind Toulon & Montpelier. They are definitely beatable. Away from home they are vulnerable but like Toulouse they seem to save up their best performances for the Heineken Cup, particularly with that away win at The Stoop.

And what of Sarries? This year, as we approach a second successive European semi-final, we seem to be in a better place. We have secured a run of victories in the Premiership, some more convincing than others. We have pretty much our first choice 15 fit and available for selection (with probably only George Kruis of the injured players likely to have started), we were able to rest the majority of our top players last weekend and those who did play came through unscathed. We are learning to eat at the top table, to win games we would once have lost (eg Ulster), to believe we have a right to be up there with the big boys, to become one of the big boys ourselves. We can win on Saturday. If we are to give Borthwick the send-off he deserves, we will need to be at the top of our game. We will need to play for a full 80 minutes as we did for 70 against Saints. Owen will need to kick his goals, Ash will need to score his record-breaking tries, Billy will need to carry as he did at Ravenhill, the front 5 will need to front up as never before. We have to believe we can win, that we have a right to play in a Heineken Cup Final, that we can silence Stuart Barnes and all those who irrationally appear to wish us ill, that Clermont, our nemesis in recent years, are beatable. We need to walk onto the turf at Twickenham as if we own it. We need to grasp this moment with both hands, believe in our destiny, go one step further than we have ever been before, make a date with the Millennium Stadium and WIN the last Heineken Cup.

Keep Calm and Carry On!