Bob Dwyer Rugby Workshops

Welford Road, Leicester. 19^th December.

Leicester Tigers v Clermont-Auvergne. Score 20-15.

When I saw the pre-game vision of Welford Road in last night’s game, my mind flew back some 13 years to my time at Leicester and the occasion of a semi-final in the first ever Heineken Cup. It was Leicester against the champion Toulouse team and, on the morning of the match eve, the pitch was completely covered with snow and ice. There was no way we wanted to miss the opportunity of getting the twinkle-toes of Toulouse onto this most uninviting pitch, so an inflatable cover  was installed over the entire pitch and numerous heaters, like miniature jet engines, were running non-stop to thaw the freeze, which was then shoveled to the sides and ends. It was all hands to the pumps, or shovels, and the game started on time. The effort certainly paid dividends. Toulouse did not want to play and the Tigers ran out convincing winners, from memory by more than twenty points.

The weather, however, was no deterrent to the visitors from Clermont-Ferrand, which sits high in the Massif Central in one of the coldest parts of France. It was -10C there on Friday!

Pool Four contains three of the top teams in Europe – Ospreys, on paper at least, a super team; Leicester, perennial finalists and frequent winners in both Europe and England; and Clermont-Auvergne, beaten finalists in the last three years in the French Top14. Leicester needed the win just to stay in touch with Ospreys and Clermont, and only two can go through to the quarter-finals.

With the Tigers unbeaten at home for 22 consecutive matches - including a stunning victory some weeks ago over the world champion Springboks – even a losing bonus point was to be cherished by the visitors. The ever-pragmatic French played as if this was their aim; to stay in touch at all costs and, if there was a chance, to sneak a win. They went mighty close but perhaps this attitude prevented them from finishing even closer. How else can you explain their decisions in the first half, to take two long-range attempts at penalty goal from 60 metres and 56 metres, and on a wet surface! Ambitious? Definitely! Wasteful of opportunities to apply pressure? I think so, for sure!

The result was probably fair. Leicester scored two tries to Clermont’s none. The first came after a superb long break around the back of the lineout by the talented Ben Youngs. He loves to run and he “feels” his opportunities, rather than “sees” them. This is the mark of a great scrum-half and is light years away from the “have a long look around and over the top, before deciding what to do” style, which characterizes the bulk of the run-of-the-mill. Anthony Allen ran beautifully on to his hip and Youngs off-loaded out of the back of his hand for a try under the posts.

Despite this, Clermont kept the scoreboard ticking over and both Malzieu and Vermeulen made good ground to set up field position for drop goals on each occasion by Brock James. Clermont were labouring as if their lives depended on it and managed a penalty on the stroke of half-time to trail only by 13-9. (Unbelievably, it took the tv match official to confirm the goal. I would have thought that reasonable eyesight was a prerequisite for an assistant referee role!) This was a great position for Clermont, given that they had had only one success from four penalty attempts and had lost their first two lineout throws, both in attacking positions. Such was their reward for genuine hard graft!

As the second half progressed, one sensed that Clermont were gaining some ascendency, only for Leicester to break away, frequently with a gem of execution. Toby Flood put the lie to his doubtful Achillies tendon with numerous assaults on the gain line and Clermont’s excellent, committed defence were finding it difficult to answer the questions posed by the possible injection of Tuqiri and/or Tuilagi. Suddenly, none of these possibilities was the threat and a beautiful pass from Flood to Hipkiss put him on the outside of his man for a 30 metre break. France scrum-half Morgan Para showed his class with a magnificent cover tackle and the day was saved.

Clermont were not spent, however, and a lovely line from the tireless Ledesma breached the Leicester line and James took his third drop goal, to bring his team within a point at 13-12.

Leicester then had three strokes of luck – two good and one bad. Referee Owens came back some 20 metres for the earlier knock on, with Rougerie away and clear for the try. On many such an occasion, the advantage would have been “over”. Soon after, a poorly executed high kick, by man-of-the-match Toby Flood, avoided all attempts to catch it and bounced forward some 8-10 metres forward into the grateful arms of the excellent Scott Hamilton. He was clear and ran in the try from some 45 metres. The conversion from touch put the visitors out of the bonus point zone at 20-12.

Then came the bad luck! At the restart, the ball came forward onto Lewis Moody. Certainly he was in an off-side position, but the consistent ruling in similar situations would have been a scrum. I must say, however, that I agree with Nigel Owens, because although Lewis’ first contact was clearly unintentional, his second was, equally clearly, intentional, and he denied Clermont the opportunity of possession.

At 20-15, following Brock James’ successful conversion of the penalty, Clermont “closed up shop” and on the stroke of 80 minutes, Brock James booted the ball into the stands. A point was enough for them!

I thought that the two teams were remarkably similar in their strengths. For the winners, Dan Cole, another product of the phenomenally successful Tigers Academy, substituted remarkably well for the world-class Castrogiovani after only seven minutes. Lock, Geoff Parling, carried all day with agility and power. Backrow, Newby, Moody and Crane were complete in all aspects of the game. Youngs is a growing talent and Flood was a worthy man-of-the-match.

Clermont impressed me. It’s not easy, especially on a big occasion, away from home at Welford Road. Ledesma belies his years. Bonnaire, Audebert and Vermeulen made an equally complete backrow. Morgan Parra showed why he is seen in France as an emerging genuine talent. Brock James was obviously vital to their performance and not only with his boot. Rougerie was fantastic, both technically and physically. To mind, Clermont-Auvergne are not far off being a great side.

Before finishing, a question!  Leicester Tigers seem to have discovered the secret of the “Richie McCaw game” – coming in from the side, even from in front of the ball, and not being penalised! How does one do this? We’d all like the same opportunity!