Battling Harlequins fall just short as Clermont Auvergne set up all-French final
Harlequins could not stop Clermont Auvergne from setting up an all-French European Challenge Cup final with La Rochelle as they were beaten 32-27 at the Stade Marcel Michelin.
Paul Gustard’s side produced a fine display and did little wrong, but still turned around 18 points down with first-half Clermont tries coming from Fritz Lee and Damian Penaud, with Camille Lopez kicking two drop-goals.
Mike Brown crossed for Harlequins, but Clermont’s power game proved too much as Morgan Parra also added two conversions and two penalties.
After the break Harlequins went for broke and added three more tries through Chris Robshaw, James Lang and a late Alex Dombrandt effort.
Ultimately it was not enough, but the English side can take real heart from their performance ahead of their final three games of the Gallagher Premiership.
Clermont were straight on the front foot and Lopez opened the scoring as he stepped back into the pocket and struck a sweet drop-goal with his left foot.
Marcus Smith responded for Harlequins with a penalty and his team ended the first quarter level as forwards Kyle Sinckler and Rob Buchanan both made strong carries.
The visitors were dealt a blow with the temporary loss of former England prop Joe Marler who was forced off for a head injury assessment.
Lopez then dropped another goal which was quickly followed by a Parra penalty and although Marler did return to the field, Clermont soon moved further clear.
Number eight Lee crashed on to a pass from Parra and spun out of the tackle to make it to the line. Parra added the conversion for a 16-3 lead.
Soon after, flying France wing Penaud then collected his own kick following a George Moala break to score Clermont’s second try and Parra again converted.
Harlequins were up against it, but they hit back just before the break when Smith’s superb break and pass on the loop around found full-back Brown, who fended off Penaud to make the line.
Smith could not convert and Parra’s penalty made it 26-8 at the break.
Clermont dominated the early second-half possession and Parra added two more quick penalties as he continued his perfect evening’s work from the tee.
Harlequins wing Ross Chisholm had a try ruled out after Dombrandt was rightly judged by the TMO to have just been in touch, but captain Robshaw soon responded.
The flanker was driven over the line with the help of Matt Symons beneath the posts and Smith could not miss with the conversion.
Clermont’s remarkable strength in depth was shown when Parra was replaced at scrum-half by Scotland international Greig Laidlaw as both sides made use of their benches.
Smith then kicked ahead and when Clermont full-back Setariki Tuicuvu failed to deal with it, Lang pounced just two minutes after entering the action.
Smith converted and all of a sudden the momentum – against all the odds – was with Harlequins.
Gustard’s side were right up for the challenge and were forcing Clermont into rare mistakes.
Laidlaw then failed to settle the French nerves as he missed with a late penalty and Dombrandt was driven over the line to reduce the gap further still.
Smith’s drop goal conversion hit the post as Harlequins – for whom Semi Kunatani made a remarkable impact off the bench – fell just short against a Clermont side who still have not lost at home this season.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments