EPCR Champions Cup Final - ASM Clermont Auvergne vs Saracens

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Match Details
Date - Saturday 13th May 2017
Time - 17:00 BST
Location - BT Murrayield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland
TV - Sky Sports / BT Sport / beIN Sports / FR2


Officials
Referee - Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch Judge 1 - George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch Judge 2 - Ian Davies (Wales)
TMO - Jonathan Mason (Wales)
Citing Commissioner - Stefano Marrama (Italy)




Recent European Form:

23/4/17 ASM Clermont 27 - 22 Leinster
2/4/17 ASM Clermont 29 - 9 Toulon
21/1/17 ASM Clermont 48 - 26 Chiefs



Tournament Record:

Played 99
Wins 62
Losses 36
Draws 1
Average Pts Per Game 27
Biggest Win 82 - 0
Heaviest Defeat 6 - 46
Champions 0

Team:

15. Scott Spedding; 14. David Strettle, 13. Aurélien Rougerie, 12. Remi Lamerat, 11. Nick Abendanon; 10. Camille Lopez, 9. Morgan Parra; 1. Raphael Chaume, 2. Benjamin Kayser, 3. Davit Zirakashvili, 4. Arthur Iturria, 5. Sébastien Vahaamahina, 6. Damien Chouly, 7. Peceli Yato, 8. Fritz Lee

16. John Ulugia, 17. Etienne Falgoux, 18. Aaron Jarvis, 19. Paul Jedrasiak, 20. Alexandre Lapandry, 21. Ludovic Radosavljevic , 22. Pato Fernandez, 23. Damian Penaud






Recent European Form:

22/4/17 Munster 10 - 26 Saracens
2/4/17 Saracens 38 - 13 Glasgow
21/1/17 Saracens 10 - 3 Toulon


Tournament Record


Played 81
Wins 56
Losses 24
Draws 1
Average Pts Per Game 27
Biggest Win 71 - 7
Heaviest Defeat 13 - 43
Champions 1


Team:

15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Ashton, 13. Marcelo Bosch, 12. Brad Barritt, 11. Chris Wyles; 10. Owen Farrell, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Jamie George, 3. Vincent Koch, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. George Kruis, 6. Michael Rhodes, 7. Jackson Wray, 8. Billy Vunipola

16. Schalk Brits, 17. Titi Lamositele, 18. Petrus du Plessis, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Schalk Burger, 21. Ben Spencer, 22. Alex Lozowski, 23. Duncan Taylor

Yes I think Nigel was being a bit lenient as they'd already given an identical penalty away before the try and he was shouting at them for hands away ...

Owens is giving Clermont every chance to win this. Pretty poor reffing this half.

He's been making quite a few odd decisions for the whole game IMO ...

This is seriously close. Sarries need to tighten up here.

Agree re Owens.....all the tight calls going Clermonts way

How the Frak was that turnover allowed??!!!

Sarries need to kick more and hold the ball less, Clermont have worked out that they can slow the ball down on the deck at will and don't look too pressured now.

No way they went forwards for me ... or maybe it did on the replay ...

Loving that air horn too

Watch him bottle this

Was certainly not deliberate but the acting from Lopez certainly was.

Ffs

Fracking hell....give Owens a blue shirt

Not sure about that one either - seen many yellows and penalty tries given there

Haha surely that is a yellow. Even the playacting by Lopez after should give it away what his intention was.

I disagree, I think he got that one right

Clermont get away with it yet again ... not convinced that wasn't deliberate just because he flipped his wrist up

Itoje hasn't had a great game - a few missed tackles and that was an utterly needless penalty

his intent/instinct was to stop the try and not to go for the intercept. penalty try and yellow card

RDW_Scotland wrote:Itoje hasn't had a great game - a few missed tackles and that was an utterly needless penalty

He gives away a lot of penalties, but because he is Itoje it isn't talked about much.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Itoje hasn't had a great game - a few missed tackles and that was an utterly needless penalty

He gives away a lot of penalties, but because he is Itoje it isn't talked about much.

He has also played very well. Strong on the gain line.

Both teams tiring now and out side of the scrum Clermont look like they're weakening

That will be it.

Yes!!!!!

Well deserved. Well done Goode. Mako scrummaging looks weak.

Correct decision by Owens by the letter of the law but not in the spirit of the law. Lopez didn't deliberately knock on but did deliberately put himself in a position where he would probably knock on.

Pressure tells in the end. It was coming.

That one was a knock on ahead of the try. Swings and roundabouts

Probably was a knock on from Taylor so a bit of karma back for Sarries!

Had to come - Clermont defended well but couldn't be expected not to give eventually

Clermont still in this

Or not, must have hurt himself play acting...

theslosty wrote:Correct decision by Owens by the letter of the law but not in the spirit of the law. Lopez didn't deliberately knock on but did deliberately put himself in a position where he would probably knock on.

I actually thought Lopez could have got to that had he not have dived looking for a penalty. It was a calculated gamble that could have paid off.

theslosty wrote:Correct decision by Owens by the letter of the law but not in the spirit of the law. Lopez didn't deliberately knock on but did deliberately put himself in a position where he would probably knock on.

Sorry, how an earth is a ref meant to interpret that in any kind of objective fashion. If the ball had gone down, he would have given the card and the PT. As it did not, he felt he could not. It had so much riding on it, it would have been the match. You can't do that by trying to judge players intent.

Kama strikes again

game over

Need more air horns at games...

Stamp there from Clermont

Well done Sarries.

You may not be likeable but damn you're a good club. Massive respect.

Congrats Sarries. Well deserved. Dominated the second half.

Well done Sarries - clearly the better team.

They are some team Saracens. The slightly scary thing is that they have probably not even peaked yet. They could be dominating this tournament for years to come.

Rugby is the winner............right?

Were was the shot of all the Sarries fans watching the game on a big screen?

TightHEAD wrote:Were was the shot of all the Sarries fans watching the game on a big screen?

Probably hiding with the 'h' in your 'where'.

BigGee wrote:

theslosty wrote:Correct decision by Owens by the letter of the law but not in the spirit of the law. Lopez didn't deliberately knock on but did deliberately put himself in a position where he would probably knock on.

Sorry, how an earth is a ref meant to interpret that in any kind of objective fashion. If the ball had gone down, he would have given the card and the PT. As it did not, he felt he could not. It had so much riding on it, it would have been the match. You can't do that by trying to judge players intent.

Well I did say it was the correct decision by the letter of the law. However I believe Saracens were denied a try by a piece of foul play, even if it were not deliberately cynical.

Say in football - a defender slides in for a tackle with the striker bearing down on goal but the ball evades the defender at the last moment, taking out the striker's legs - it doesn't matter what the defender's intentions are because as long as a goalscoring opportunity is denied the referee gives a penalty and a red card.

theslosty wrote:

BigGee wrote:

theslosty wrote:Correct decision by Owens by the letter of the law but not in the spirit of the law. Lopez didn't deliberately knock on but did deliberately put himself in a position where he would probably knock on.

Sorry, how an earth is a ref meant to interpret that in any kind of objective fashion. If the ball had gone down, he would have given the card and the PT. As it did not, he felt he could not. It had so much riding on it, it would have been the match. You can't do that by trying to judge players intent.

Well I did say it was the correct decision by the letter of the law. However I believe Saracens were denied a try by a piece of foul play, even if it were not deliberately cynical.

Say in football -  a defender slides in for a tackle with the striker bearing down on goal but the ball evades the defender at the last moment, taking out the striker's legs - it doesn't matter what the defender's intentions are because as long as a goalscoring opportunity is denied the referee gives a penalty and a red card.

A bit like when a player gets pinned at the bottom of a ruck through no fault of his own? He hasn't meant to slow the ball down, but he gets penalised anyway because he has inadvertently prevented the attacking team getting quick ball.

Actually football has changed the rule to say only a deliberate denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity is a red card.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Actually football has changed the rule to say only a deliberate denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity is a red card.

You are indeed correct. Which for me in this instance is fair, a penalty try but no card for Lopez.

Well deserved win for Saracens. Great result for Ireland!