Out On The Full - The View From Twickenham, European Style!

Two years ago Clermont beat Saracens 22-3 in the Quarter Final of the Heineken Cup and on that day Saracens were thoroughly embarrassed, it was a case of men playing against boys. Two years on, on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the home of England Rugby the tables were turned a full 180 degrees as Saracens taught Clermont a lesson in how to play knockout European Rugby and blitzed them off the park.

The key message before the game from a reasonably calm Mark McCall was about his squad delivering a performance that they would be proud of and my goodness me did they do just that... his men came out of the blocks firing on about a million cylinders and never, ever let up. If you are a Clermont fan then you will say that Saracens were ‘lucky’ and enjoyed the run of the whistle from referee Nigel Owens early on in the match however if you are more neutral than that then you will disagree and simply applaud the stunning performance that Saracens delivered. From minute one Jacques Burger showed why he is on the shortlist for the Aviva Premiership Player Of The Season and after twenty minutes there was never any doubt that he would be the man of the match...  he made a staggering 27 tackles and played as if his life depended on it. Chris Ashton emphatically smashed the record for the most tries in a single Heineken Cup campaign crossing the line twice, Alex Goode looked back to his very best form and in spite of the news pre-match that Owen Farrell would be operating on ‘one foot’ he sparkled as he always does nowadays on the Twickenham stage. Schalk Brits’ dancing feet and enigmatic running were present throughout however it was his defensive efforts that were most potent. Clermont were kept terribly quiet, Parra tried hard to orchestrate his men however the word tried should be emphasised heavily. Sivivatu and Nalanga didn’t sparkle and whilst Cudmore, Hines and Bonnaire were brutal at times it simply wasn’t enough to weather the humungous Saracens storm. 

The question on everyone’s lips at half time was ‘is this game done and dusted already!?’ The answer we found out was yes, after the break Saracens pressed on and shifted into tenth gear (saying fifth didn't seem appropriate, they were that good). Clermont chased the game and in the end they gave up, at times they had the upper hand at scrum time however it was little consolation for Cotter's men.  

After the game a battered, bruised and tired Jacques Burger articulated the team's goal clearly when he said 'it is eighty minutes and you can't leave the pitch thinking that we should have done this or we should have done that and today we played without regret'. Interestingly Owen Farrell felt that the side 'left opportunities out there' and he wasn't quite as visibly elated as his teammate however you knew that behind that cool, calm exterior there was a deeply satisfied rugby player. 

After all of that action let's just pause and take a moment to soak in what happened at Twickenham in the Heineken Cup Semi Final 2014; going into this match it was billed as a nail-biter, it was billed as a match that was almost too tight to call however for eighty minutes in the sunshine there was only ever one team in it and one team that would end the day victorious. Saracens were cut throat, they were relentless and they were absolutely brutal as they chewed up and spat out one of the best teams that Europe has to offer. Mark McCall's men now head to Cardiff for the Heineken Cup Final for the first time ever, they have extradited their European Semi Final demon in the best possible way and now they have a shot at European Glory.