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Spedding crushed by Clermont's European woe
By Russell Greaves
Scott Spedding was distraught at missing out on the biggest prize in European club rugby as Clermont Auvergne came up short against Saracens on Saturday.
The Top 14 club suffered defeat in a third Champions Cup final, with Sarries retaining their title courtesy of a 28-17 win at Murrayfield.
A much-improved second-half showing had Clermont firmly in the hunt until Alex Goode's late try thwarted the French side's fightback, leaving Spedding deflated.
"It's massively disappointing. We know the history – that's our third final in this competition and we were desperate to do it for our fans," Spedding, whose bold break from the back set up Nick Abendanon for the try of the match early in the second half, told BT Sport.
.@nick_abendanon finishing a superb try for @ASMOfficiel...
Pretty great too! #Jump #TryTime pic.twitter.com/NScwjfKmiz
— Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) May 13, 2017
"But we came up against a huge Saracens team who have proved their worth in the past few seasons.
"We gave our all out there – we might have left it a bit late in the first half to start playing, but we had a good fightback in the second half and we're proud of that effort.
"We are absolutely gutted. We don't know what we're missing, but hopefully one day it turns our way."
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Latest Comments
No just because the personal is much better than last year. I've shown no antagonism of Crusader players, you must be confusing me with someone else.
I have critized Razor for picking players he knows occasionally?
I said I'm not surprised because of his style, he's more a grinder player like Cane, not going to show up on peoples radar until you see how bad the other choices are. This year players like Clarke have been on fire and just show a bit more.
Are you one of those posters continually taking it easy on Razor because he doesn't have his Crusaders stars available? Do you think the rugby world is going to up to him suddenly once Mo'unga returns? lol
Go to commentsJohn you have been beating this drum for a couple of years, if you get proven right get back to us.
The last recent and decent Aussie coach was Ewen McKenzie, he was undermined and forced out by a couple of slimy Aussie players who were given a free pass when they should have been disciplined.
So our history since McQueen is very checkered and it seems to make little difference whether we have an Aussie coach or a Kiwi coach. The players have been entitled for a long time and we had to hit bottom to get them back into reality and to stop thinking it is all about them.
Cheika was an OK coach but his 'go our and destroy the opposition' tactic worked for a while and then didn't.
Please give me a list of great Aussie coaches that I have missed.
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