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Imperious Clermont thrash La Rochelle
By Peter Thompson
Greig Laidlaw claimed an 18-point haul as Clermont Auvergne returned to the summit of the Top 14 table with a 44-19 rout of high-flying La Rochelle.
Franck Azema's side made a huge statement at Stade Marcel-Michelin on Sunday, scoring five tries to extend their unbeaten run to 11 matches in all competitions.
Third-placed La Rochelle had won 10 of their previous 11 matches, but they were no match for rampant Clermont.
Laidlaw put the home side well on course for another victory when he threw a dummy and dotted down for a try which he converted before adding a second penalty.
Victor Vito's try got La Rochelle on the board, but Clermont led 23-7 at half-time courtesy of a Peceli Yato try, which Laidlaw converted after he was on target with a third penalty.
Geoffrey Doumayrou and Jone Qovu went over for La Rochelle either side of a penalty try for Clermont, which also resulted in Arthur Joly being sin-binned following the collapse of a scrum.
Indiscipline cost La Rochelle again when Alexi Bales became their third player to be yellow-carded, with George Moala and Tim Nanai-Williams adding further tries in a crushing victory which puts Clermont three points clear of Toulouse.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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