In the fog of the Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont went for victory against Bordeaux-Bègles (34-19), which could see the leading duo of the Top 14 soar in the standings.
Clermont chases away its doubts… and amplifies those of Bordeaux-Bègles. On the lawn of a Stade Marcel-Michelin invaded by fog, Christophe Urios’ players got the better of those of Yannick Bru to erase the bad memory of the defeat conceded in Perpignan last weekend. The difficult playing conditions in terms of visibility may have influenced a sluggish start to the match for both teams. Indeed, blunders have multiplied on both sides. It was only as the quarter of an hour of play approached that the scoreboard moved. Taking advantage of a Gironde foul on the ground, Harry Plummer found the target on a penalty. From there, the Jaunards forwards often gained the upper hand over those of the UBB, prone to making mistakes.
A behavior which ended up costing the defending champions in the Champions Cup. On a third attempted ball in the space of ten minutes, ASM broke through the Bordeaux-Bègles defense with Boris Palu collapsing near his line. Accordingly, the referee gave a yellow card to the second row of UBB then awarded a penalty try to Clermontwho took a ten-point lead in the middle of the first act. The Auvergnats only took two minutes to exploit this numerical superiority to come away with the score. For his third appearance of the season with ASM, the first in Top 14, George Moala capsized the Stade Marcel-Michelin. After breaking through the Gironde defense, the Tongan center was able to find a relay before going to queen.
Bordeaux-Bègles tried to react
With their backs to the wall, the Bordeaux-Bègles players tried to raise their heads but their offensive play proved ineffective against a solid Clermont defense. However, at the half-hour mark, Gaëtan Barlot showed his power. After a carried ball approached the goal, the UBB hooker tried his luck alone upwind and took advantage of the surrounding disorganization to unlock his team’s counter. Joey Carbery then went through the transformation. However, it was the Jaunards who had the last word in this first period through the boot of Harry Plummer for a margin of thirteen lengths at the break. Upon resumption, Clermont suffered a hard blow with the injury exit of Baptiste Jauneauvisibly affected in the hamstrings of the right leg after a severe clearing.
Sébastien Bézy immediately took his place on the pitch. Unhappy with his team’s performance, Yannick Bru brought in fresh blood with six changes just over five minutes after play resumed. However, the two teams did not show their best face with an accumulation of inaccuracies and mistakes. Under pressure, the Clermontois gave in with Barnabé Massa who was penalized with a yellow card for intervening near his line in an offside position. At one more, the Girondins played the test of strength with a penalty played by hand. A plan that worked since Sipili Falatea was able to force his way through to revive the UBB and send a shiver through the ASM supporters. In fact, there were only six points behind with 25 minutes to go before the siren.
Clermont in control at the end of the match
But, faced with Girondins who were too undisciplined, deliverance came at the start of the last quarter of an hour. At the end of a long sequence of upwind play, Giorgi Dzmanashvili took the opportunity to score his first try with Clermont, validated by the video. After passing the transformation, Harry Plummer raised hopes of an offensive bonus by flattening his team’s fourth try. On an action he launched, the New Zealand opener was able to follow well to break through the UBB defense and go to the promised land. The Jaunards then only had one try to score to sign a five-point victory but without this materializing. Approaching the last five minutes, Arthur Retière concluded a long-range action, having followed a ball that was messed up but extended to the foot by Ugo Boniface.
The final minutes saw the two teams neutralize each other. On a touch not found by Maxime Lucu on penalty the ball was sent into touch to seal the fate of the match.
With this victory (34-19), Clermont does not lose contact in the race for places in the final phase. For Bordeaux-Bègles, this third setback in the last four days sees the Gironde club fall to fourth place behind Stade Français with Toulon which could move ahead this Sunday in the event of success against Perpignan. Moreover,
both Pau and Toulouse will have the opportunity to push the Girondins back more than ten points. A start is expected next weekend against Racing 92.
