paddling in the pool of death

By Nell
January 24 2006

After a journey to Clermont which was somewhat fraught at times - being stopped by the boys in blue on the A14 and making numerous circuits of Clermont in an attempt to find the hotel...

...we finally arrived at the stadium when we actually wanted to be there. We had become well aquainted with it during the afternoon, every time we saw it we knew we were miles from the hotel.

Although in theory we only needed one point to qualify, if we wanted a home quarter final we needed to win with a bonus point. The players had put in a monumental effort five days before against Stade Francais, would they be able to it again?

Clermont put the first score on the board after just 4 minutes with a Stephen Jones penalty after Harry Ellis had impeded Mignoni. And another Jones penalty put them 6-0 up by 10 minutes after Andy Goode had crept offside.

This had been a very active first 10 minutes for the Clermont forwards, but our front row were starting to show their strengths. However Alain Roland did not seem to be very happy with the set scrums. Most seemed to have to be reset. There were several penalties for scrum infringements in the first half.

Even before Tigers had put any points on the board our first injury replacement had to be made. Ollie Smith had soldiered on for some minutes, having gone down early in the game after a collision. He was replaced by Alex Tuilagi.

All this having been said, Tigers were still looking like the eventual winners and their scoring process got under way in the 18th minute with a Goode penalty to close the margin to 6-3. The process continued with Varndell’s first try, in the 24th minute, putting Tigers into a 6-8 lead, the conversion attempt having missed. The try came from magical play by Geordan, who is surely coming back to his best. Murphy passed to Varndell who ran for about 40 metres and handed off two Clermont players in the process - hasn’t he really developed this skill.

Then in the 32nd minute Harry Ellis produced a sharp break from a ruck to set Varndell up for his second try and Goodey converted this time to take the score to 6-15.

This splendid spell of Tigers’ dominance produced yet another try in the 38th minute when Martin Corry really got the away supporters going with a great 30 metre run after a free kick. This ended up with Hipkiss touching down. These youngsters certainly seem to know how to cross the whitewash. This try was converted by Goode, 6-22.

But Clermont were not ready to give in. They might not have any hope of qualifying but they were playing for pride. On 40 minutes the very talented young full back Anthony Floch went over after a flat pass from Canale. In Floch, Clermont have someone who looks like becoming one of the French stars of the future. Jones converted and 13-22 was the half time score.

Just 3 minutes into the second half that man Varndell was off again. His try was the result of imaginative play by others and Murphy was once again there to give him a great pass to allow him his hat-trick. Goode failed to convert, but we were going through to the quarter finals - we had the bonus point and Stade Francais could not catch us.

Although the Tigers travelling contingent was smaller than for many recent French matches (Friday evening rugby is presumably bound to be like this) the noise they were making was tremendous. “Tigers, Tigers” was ringing round the stadium, with one or two hearty renditions of “Sweet Chariot” also lifting the spirits. “Sweet Chariot” seemed to wind the Clermont fans up and they also started singing much louder than before.

By 50 minutes into the game Ben Kay was replaced by Leo Cullen. Ben had once again shown that he has really returned to form after his spell in the doldrums. But Leo has an amazing knack, when coming off the bench, of really hitting the ground running. The margin was opened up again by a 52 minute Goode penalty taking the score to 13-30.

Clermont were still in there fighting at this stage thanks notably to Stephen Jones who was making sterling efforts to get them back into contention. Without Martin Corry, who had been replaced earlier by Will Johnson, Tigers seemed a bit rudderless for a while. So despite Clermont being down to 14 men, front row man Brice Miguel having been sent off for thumping Julian White, Tigers seemed slightly disorganised.

There were still one or two good chances, though. Leo Cullen and Dan Hipkiss set Harry Ellis up for what should have been another try for Varndell. However Harry, thinking himself to be in the clear, was tackled from behind, 5 metres from the line, with Tom in space on his left.

Healey came on for Ellis and James Buckland for Chuter. On 68 minutes Andy Goode landed a drop goal - a rare sight for Tigers this season. Andy was soon replaced by young Ross Broadfoot.

Clermont replied almost immediately with an Audebert try scored after a penalty was given near the line. Jones converted, 20-33.

Austin was now bossing things and despite wholesale substitutions we were regaining some of our composure. It did not take Tigers long to come back. Sam Vesty, another Tigers youngster who demonstrated how his game has developed this season, passed to Murphy who once again set up the flying Varndell for his fourth try. Broadfoot converted it to bring the score to 20- 40.

Clermont fought right to the end. Paulse intercepted a pass to run 40 metres for the third Clermont try, which Jones converted 27-40; the final score when Alain Roland blew the final whistle 10 minutes later.

Tom Varndell was named man of the match. However once again Tigers played a game to be proud of, with many other players who could also have merited this honour. Luke Abraham is a star in the making and Geordan once again played a blinder.

The injuries of Darryl Gibson and Shane Jennings, and the suspension of Lewis Moody, have given opportunities to Dan Hipkiss and Luke Abraham which they have seized with both hands. Tigers can be very proud of this present crop of youngsters. The number 7 shirt is going to be a real battle, but when Lewis and Shane are away for the Six Nations I don’t think anyone needs to have sleepless nights about Luke being adequate cover.

We’re in the quarter finals and at home. Let’s hope we can keep up the momentum and go all the way!