Late Thomond Triumph
13 December 2008, 5:08 pm
By Pat Geraghty
http://www.munsterrugby.ie
Write off Munster at your peril! Once again they showed their true grit and
determination in the final minutes to secure a 23-13 win over ASM Clermont
Auvergne at a packed Thomond Park.
It was a victory that looked unlikely as time ebbed away and Munster trailed
13-11 thanks to a 60th minute Julien Malzieu try converted superbly from the
touchline by Brock James. With about six minutes to go, the Clermont out-half
had a gilt-edged opportunity to put further distance between the sides but was
wide with a relatively straight forward drop-goal attempt. Paul O'Connell
galvanised his troops who somehow managed to get themselves deep into Clermont
territory and when Ronan O'Gara went right and wide that master poacher, Marcus
Horan was on hand to scoring the crucial try.
O'Gara missed the conversion and with just three points in it, and given the
quality of the French side, the capture of the re-start was vital. This was
achieved with a superb take from Niall Ronan who moments later orchestrated a
chip 'n chase that saw him get the touchdown. This time O'Gara made no mistake
while also making history as the first man to take his points tally in the
competition past the 1,000 point mark.
Just as important as that missed Brock drop goal effort was the tackle made
by Tomas O'Leary on Benoit Baby at a time when Munster were under enormous
pressure and leading by six points. Baby split the defence and looked certain to
score under the posts until O'Leary - without the slightest regard for his own
health - clattered the centre with a try-saving, possibly match saving hit that
forced the Frenchman to retire injured.
Right from the kick off, Clermont gave the clear impression that they hadn't
come to Thomond Park just to make up the numbers but their cause certainly
wasn't helped when Jamie Cudmore's series of uppercuts on Paul O'Connell ended
in a red card for the Canadian. O'Connell got yellow for retaliation only after
he'd been clipped by Cudmore for the fourth or fifth time but shortly after he
returned to the fray, Munster scored their first try, David Wallace driven over
the line by back-row partner Alan Quinlan.
As they had done a week earlier, the French side took control of the leather
right from the re-start forcing Munster into desperate defence. Two James
penalties had them just two points behind when Malzieu brushed off two tackles
to score his try and Munster hearts missed a beat more than once as their side
clung desperately to keep themselves in contention.
Hearts missed a beat when O'Gara was wide with a long range penalty but to
their eternal credit Munster held their nerve. Keith Earls and David Wallace
crossed the gainline with precious few minutes remaining to set up the field
position for that late gallant effort.
Munster: K Earls; D Howlett, B Murphy, L Mafi, I Dowling; R O'Gara, T
O'Leary; M Horan, J Flannery, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell (capt), A
Quinlan, N Ronan, D Wallace. Replacements: D Ryan for Quinlan (56 mins), P
Warwick for Murphy (62 mins), T Buckley for Hayes (67 mins), P Stringer for
O'Leary (73 mins), D Fogarty for Flannery, J Coughlan for Wallace (both 79 mins).
Not used: K Lewis. Sin-binned: O'Connell (19-29 mins).
ASM Clermont Auvergne: A Floch; J Malzieu, M Joubert, B Baby, N Vonowale
Nalaga; B James, P Mignoni; L Emmanuelli, B Cabello, J Roux, J Cudmore, T Privat,
J Bonnaire, A Audebert, E Vermeulen (capt). Replacements: M Ledesma for Cabello,
D Zirakashvili for Roux (both 46 mins), S Bai for Baby (53 mins), C Samson
Privat (66 mins), E Etien for Vermeulen (72 mins). Not used: J Senio, G
Esterhuizen. Sent-off: Cudmore (29 mins).
Referee: Chris White (England)
Munster Fight Back For Bonus
7 December 2008, 11:51 pm
Match report by Editor
From www.irishrugby.ie
Heineken Cup champions Munster slipped to their first defeat in Europe since
last January but a losing bonus point in Clermont Auvergne kept their
quarter-final qualification hopes alive.
Brock James scored all of Clermont Auvergne's points, including six penalties
and a second half try, to keep his team in the tournament with a repeat of last
season's victory over the European champions.
But Ronan O'Gara's 73rd-minute penalty ensured Munster left France with a
potentially crucial losing bonus point that keeps them in touch with new Pool 1
leaders Sale Sharks.
Vitally,two of the next three pool games for Tony McGahan's side are at home
at Thomond Park.
They looked set to take all four points when Marcus Horan scored a tremendous
try on 25 minutes to open a 13-6 lead.
O'Gara and James had traded two penalties each when Ireland prop Horan
received the ball out wide following Alan Quinlan's break and David Wallace's
pass.
He still had two defenders to beat yet managed to swat both aside with a
ferocious hand-off to touch down in the corner.
O'Gara converted and added a third penalty to open up a 16-9 advantage, but
Munster were made to pay a heavy price for a series of penalties which allowed
Clermont Auvergne remain in touch through the pinpoint accuracy of James.
Penalties either side of half-time cut the lead to a point and the tide had
turned in the hosts' favour.
France number 8 Elvis Vermeulen came off the bench as the home side stepped
up a gear and, within a minute, James slipped past O'Gara for a try from close
range.
Julian Bonnaire marshalled a powerful lineout drive and Mario Ledesma tore
headlong into the Irish midfield before James stepped inside O'Gara and out of
the grasp of Paul O'Connell to give Clermont Auvergne the lead on 47 minutes.
Ledesma took a scrum against the head as Munster creaked under the pressure,
but the visitors were grateful to only concede a sixth James penalty.
Munster threw on giant prop Tony Buckley to help steady the ship, Lifeimi
Mafi stood tall in midfield and Tomas O'Leary sniped around the fringes to get
Munster back on track.
But it was a moment of French petulance that earned the bonus point.
Pierre Mignoni conceded a penalty and referee Wayne Barnes marched Clermont
Auvergne back an extra 10 yards after some back-chat.
That brought O'Gara within range and the tournament's top points scorer
obliged with a kick that keeps Munster well placed to progress to the
last-eight.
MATCH SUMMARY -
TIME LINE: 7 minutes Clermont Auvergne penalty: Brock James 3-0; 17
mins Munster penalty: Ronan O'Gara 3-3; 19 mins Munster penalty:
Ronan O'Gara 3-6; 22 mins Clermont Auvergne penalty: Brock James
6-6; 25 mins Munster try: Marcus Horan 6-11; conversion: Ronan O'Gara
6-13; 31 mins Clermont Auvergne penalty: Brock James 9-13; 35 mins
Munster penalty: Ronan O'Gara 9-16; 40 mins Clermont Auvergne
penalty: Brock James 12-16; Half-time Clermont Auvergne 12 Munster 16;
42 mins Clermont Auvergne penalty: Brock James 15-16; 47 mins
Clermont Auvergne try: Brock James 20-16; conversion: Brock James 22-16;
55 mins Clermont Auvergne penalty: Brock James 25-16; 74 mins
Munster penalty: Ronan O'Gara 25-19; Full-time Clermont Auvergne 25
Munster 19
CLERMONT AUVERGNE: Anthony Floch; Aurelien Rougerie (capt), Benoit Baby,
Seremaia Bai, Julien Malzieu; Brock James, Pierre Mignoni; Thomas Domingo, Mario
Ledesma, Davit Zirakashvili, Julien Pierre, Loic Jacquet, Jamie Cudmore,
Alexandre Lapandry, Julien Bonnaire.
Replacements used: Elvis Vermeulen for Cudmore (46 mins), Alexandre Audebert
for Lapandry (69), Laurent Emmanuelli for Domingo (73). Not used: Mirko Lozupone,
John Senio, Pierre-Manuel Garcia, Grant Esterhuizen.
MUNSTER: Keith Earls; Doug Howlett, Barry Murphy, Lifeimi Mafi, Ian Dowling;
Ronan OGara, Tomas OLeary; Marcus Horan, Frankie Sheahan, John Hayes,
Donncha OCallaghan, Paul OConnell (capt), Alan Quinlan, Niall Ronan, David
Wallace.
Replacements used: Donnacha Ryan for Quinlan (53 mins), Denis Fogarty for
Sheahan (63), Tony Buckley for Horan (69), James Coughlan for Ronan (74). Not
used: Peter Stringer, Paul Warwick, Kieran Lewis.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Nearly 500 photos of Brock
http://www.cybervulcans.net/galerie/thumbnails.php?album=search&type=full&search=JAMES
Tribute from an admirer - photos
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=25560086
Brock James weighed in with 15 points for Clermont
Auvergne
Photo copyright: © Getty Images
Clermont Auvergne heap woe on Scarlets
19 January 2008, 7:35 pm
By PA Sport
Clermont Auvergne ensured Llanelli Scarlets ended win-less in this season's
Heineken Cup with a crushing 41-0 victory in their Pool 5 clash at Stradey Park.
Llanelli Scarlets' Heineken Cup campaign ended in a humiliating Pool Five
whitewash as Clermont enjoyed a bonus-point victory at a shell-shocked Stradey
Park. The Scarlets, who this time last year were celebrating six straight pool
wins, had no answer to Clermont's better all-round game which saw them score six
tries, with Brock James claiming 16 points.
All the talk before the kick-off was the late change in the Scarlets line-up.
In the week he was linked with a move out of Stradey Park Stephen Jones pulled
out just before the start with a reported back spasm. It meant the Scarlets were
without both their first choice half-backs - Jones and Dwayne Peel (shoulder
injury), who will leave at the end of the season to move to Sale. The Jones
injury meant a late shuffle of the back line with full-back Ceiron Thomas going
to outside-half and Morgan Stoddart coming off the replacements bench to wear
the number 15 jersey.
In driving rain and on a heavy pitch Clermont soon showed their intent with a
forward rumble into the home 22 which saw the ball moved to hooker Mario Ledesma,
who went over. Referee George Clancy gave the try on the advice of the
television match official Marshall Kilgore. James converted to make it
7-0 after eight minutes. Matters did not get any better for the Scarlets as they
lost Ceiron Thomas before half an hour was up. He had to be replaced by
wing Darren Daniel with centre Gavin Evans going to emergency
outside-half. And three minutes later the Scarlets conceded their second
try when the Clermont forwards powered to the line following a line-out with
lock Loic Jacquet emerging as the scorer as the French club led 12-0.
From a tapped penalty the Scarlets got the ball out to Mark Jones, to create
their first legitimate scoring chance, but he was bundled into touch five metres
from the line. The Scarlets had the chance to get on the board before
half-time but Gavin Evans missed his penalty attempt - the last action of the
first 40 minutes. It did not get any better for the Scarlets after the interval
as James collected 10 points in the space of four minutes. First
the outside-half planted a penalty goal and followed that up by converting his
own try after latching onto the end of full-back Anthony Floch's kick
ahead.
The home side's evening only went from bad to worse when Matthew Rees was
sin-binned for a ruck offence and that opened the way for Floch to breeze in for
the bonus point try on 57 minutes as Clermont led 29-0. Eight minutes from
time came Clermont's fifth try for man of the match Elvis Vermeulen. Floch
went in for his second try and Clermont's sixth during injury time.
Llanelli Scarlets (0) 0;
Clermont Auvergne (12) 41 Tries: Ledesma, Jacquet, James, Floch
(2), Vermeulen Con: James (4) Pen: James
Llanelli Scarlets: C Thomas; D James, M Watkins, G Evans, M Jones; S
Jones, L Davies; I Thomas, M Rees, D Manu, A Eustace, S MacLeod, S Easterby (capt),
G Thomas, D Jones.
Replacements: M Schwalger, B Broster, N Thomas, A Popham, G Cattle, D Daniel, M
Stoddart.
ASM Clermont Auvergne: A Floch; G Esterhuizen, M Joubert, S Bai, J
Malzieu; B James, P Mignoni (capt); L Emmanuelli, M Ledesma, M Scelzo, L
Jacquet, T Privat, J Bonnaire, A Audebert, E Vermeulen.
Replacements: M Lozupone, D Zirakashvili, C Samson, S Broomhall, A Pic, P
Garcia, V Delasau. Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Photos from January 2008
Courtesy cybervulcans website
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