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Clermont earned the right to contest the 2015 Top 14 Final against Stade Français by defeating the 2011 championship winning Toulouse in Bordeaux this afternoon. In doing so the Guy Noves regime has ended with the most sucesssful coach in the professional era now set to become France’ new Head Coach after this year’s World Cup.
The result means France will complete the four year World Cup cycle with a different champion every year. Toulouse won in 2012 followed by Castres in 2013 and Toulon in 2014. Finalists Clermont and Stade Français were last French champions in 2010 and 2007 respectively.
Clermont’s win came without a try as Toulouse fullback Maxime Médard was the only player to cross in the match. His second half try put Toulouse ahead after the scores had been 9-6 to Les Jaunards. Completing the comeback was veteran Brock James who kicked a penalty and a drop goal after entering from the bench to secure an 18-14 win.
Featuring for the full 80 minutes for Toulouse was Argentine veteran second-rower Patricio Albacete. The former Puma remains under contract with Toulouse next season as does Canadian Jamie Cudmore with Clermont. Cudmore missed the Semi Final due to injury but is expected to be back fit for the final next Saturday.
Cudmore’s club is to now take-on Stade Français in a repeat of the 2007 Final, won by the Parisians. On that day Juan Martín Hernández produced a memorable performance to see the then Agustín Pichot captained side winning the French championship. He did so playing opposite Brock James. Cudmore started as did Mike James while, in addition to Pichot and Hernández, Mario Ledesma, Pedro Ledesma, Gonzalo Longo, Rodrigo Roncero and Martín Scelzo were also all involved.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Pens: Parra 4, James
Drop Goal: James
For Toulouse:
Try: Médard
Pens: McAlister 3
The teams:
Clermont
15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Aurélien Rougerie, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Julien Bardy, 6 Damien Chouly, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Paul Jedrasiak, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Thomas Domingo
16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Raphaël Chaume, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Alexandre Lapandry, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Brock James, 22 Jean-Marcellin Buttin, 23 Clément Ric
Toulouse
15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sébastien Bézy, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 Yannick Nyanga, 6 Thierry Dusautoir, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Joe Tekori, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Gurthö Steenkamp
16 Cyril Baille, 17 Julien Marchand, 18 Yoann Maestri, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Yacouba Camara, 21 Florian Fritz, 22 Timoci Matanavou, 23 Dorian Aldegheri
