Some games create a significant ripple effect which is still felt long after the event. This was one of them, both from a scoreline perspective and the shuddering manner by which Clermont tumbled into Heineken Cup oblivion. Saracens not only kept themselves on track for an extraordinary domestic and European double but drove an armoured battalion through the fond French notion that the Top 14 is the strongest league in the world.
In Jacques Burger, their piratical-looking Namibian flanker, Sarries also have a man single-handedly altering orthodox notions of how the sport is played when the opposition have the ball. Before he was substituted Burger put in 28 frenzied tackles in 70 minutes and, despite touching the ball himself just twice, exerted more influence than the entire Clermont starting XV put together. Never have the Michelin men from the Auvergne suffered a 40-point losing margin in the professional era, let alone been bullied into utter submission as they were here.
Burger's rise from unfashionable origins to top-level prominence is essentially the story of Saracens with a thick mop of dark, curly hair attached. A savage knee injury should have ended his career a couple of years ago but the intensely-committed 30-year-old refused to accept the seemingly inevitable and instead committed to an extreme rehab regime which now requires him to ice the joint eight times per day. He keeps his own ice machine at home with him and has to visit a physio every morning, all for the cause of incurring even more pain every Saturday.
It sounds like madness; it almost certainly is madness, as Burger openly concedes. "It's borderline stupid. People think I'm too dumb to feel the pain. But I don't think I'm tougher than anybody, I just think I've got a good attitude. Luckily I've got a face that hides pain well. After two years out I didn't think I was going to come back, so a bit of pain here and there doesn't really bother me. Following the injury, I was wondering if I would be as physical as I was before. But when you run out on to the field, you sort of turn into a different person."
No wonder one of his club nicknames is 'The Widow Maker'. To the dismay of those wishing to paint him as a lion-wrestling bushman from the Kalahari he is actually a 'city boy' from Windhoek but his nose, a cracked and twisting stairway to an equally scarred brow, is testament to a life spent in a similarly tough environment. "He's mental, to be fair, but he's a massive asset to us," reported Owen Farrell, scorer of one of his side's six tries despite a continuing sore foot which caused the kicking duties to be passed to Alex Goode. "I'm glad he's not tackling me. I know if I was playing against him you'd be looking for where he is all the time. You wouldn't want him hitting you from the blindside. You can tell people know he's coming. And when you see people hitting like that it makes you want to do it."
With Schalk Brits, Mouritz Botha, Brad Barritt, Kelly Brown, Steve Borthwick and Mako Vunipola also making a serious defensive impact by adhering to their coach Paul Gustard's "wolf pack" mentality, it left Clermont nowhere to run.
Maybe the scoreline would have been closer without the highly debatable award of a 12th-minute penalty try in addition to a yellow card when Brock James batted the ball deliberately over his own dead-ball line but that argument had lost its relevance long before the end.
Chris Ashton, in particular, is currently looking as sharp as at any point in the past three years, his two tries taking his European tally for the season to 11, eclipsing the previous record set by Brive's Sébastien Carat in 1996-97. It may yet be enough to regain him his Test place on England's wing but, in the meantime, the collective priority is to propel Saracens to at least one major trophy next month.
Last season they were beaten in two semi-finals but a far better balance has been added to their game now, complemented by a soaring confidence which stems from focussing on the quality of their own performance rather than being constrained by what their chief executive, Edward Griffiths, calls "the tyranny of the result". It makes them a dangerous proposition, regardless of their opponents or the competition involved. "I think we're ready to win both; why not?" confirmed Burger. "We want to win the Premiership and the Heineken Cup. For now, one is not enough. It's not going to be easy, but easy is boring. We're going to go out there and give it our best shot."
Their first Heineken Cup final – only one English club (Wasps in 2004 and 2007) have won it over the past decade –will certainly attract a bigger attendance, with Twickenham more than two-thirds empty for this occasion. The absentees missed out as Saracens delivered one of the more compelling performances of this or any previous season. At this rate they are going to take some stopping on every front.
Saracens Goode; Ashton, Bosch (Streather, 72), Barritt, Strettle (Wyles, 69); Farrell, De Kock (Wigglesworth, 50); M Vunipola (Barrington, 71), Brits (George, 70), Johnston (Stevens, 45), Borthwick (capt), Botha (Hargreaves, 66), Brown, Burger (Wray, 69), Vunipola.
Tries Ashton 2. Penalty Try Farrell, Wyles, Streather Cons Goode 5. Pens Goode, Bosch.
Clermont Byrne; Sivivatu, Stanley (Nakaitaci, 66), Fofana, Nalaga; James (Delany, 58), Parra (Lacrampe, 62); Domingo (Debaty, 50), Kayser (Paulo, 58), Zirakashvili (Ric, 68), Cudmore (Pierre, 69), Hines, Bonnaire (capt), Chouly, Lee (Vosloo, 32).
Referee N Owens (Wales). Attendance 25,942.
