Saracens expect a crowd of at least 45,000 for their match against Leinster at Wembley on Saturday, but what they would give for a home like Clermont's, which is filled regularly with a cacophonous, hostile horde dressed in blue and yellow.
The stadium resembles Vicarage Road, the ground Saracens spend £500,000 a year renting, in one respect – one corner is unfinished. But whereas the work in Watford has been suspended indefinitely, it will soon be completed in Clermont. Saracens struggle to average 8,000 crowds and are considering a move. They want to build their own ground but cost is a factor.
It is almost a year since Clermont were beaten at home. Saracens came closer than anyone, dominating most of the first hour, but while they were sharp tactically, at least initially, they were blunt in attack.They kept running into immovable objects and not even Steve Borthwick was spared the indignity of being dumped on his back and stripped of possession.
Saracens attacked from the off, running from everywhere, but they struggled to create space, gave away two soft tries and trailed by nine points at the break: they were the better side between the 22s but not in either of them. Clermont absorbed the blows, even when twice reduced to 14 men, the first time after Sarries took exception to what they felt was a stamp on the face of the flanker Jacques Burger, and used their more experienced bench to telling effect.
"It is the first time a team has enjoyed so much possession against us on our own turf since I have been here," said the Clermont head coach, Vern Cotter. "They gave us the runaround and really tested us defensively. Saracens are a very good side: do not underestimate them."
The Saracens head coach, Mark McCall, – the director of rugby, Brendan Venter, was in South Africa after a bereavement – said he was disappointed not to have won. An experienced Heineken Cup team would not have left without a bonus point. There were times in the second half when Sarries needed to put the ball into the corners but they continued to run from deep and get turned over. They struggled to offload and the ball-carrier was often isolated. Clermont waited for their moment and two of their three tries came gift-wrapped.
"We came here to give it a real go and we did not die wondering," said the scrum-half, Richard Wigglesworth. "This is a competition we aim to be in for a long time: no one wants to go back to playing in the lower standard [of the Amlin Insurance Challenge Cup]."
It may, as Cotter accepted, have been different had Alex Goode finished off a 50-metre run five minutes in with a try. As he reached out to touch the ball down, Brock James knocked it out of his grasp.
"I knew I had not scored," said Goode. "We did not quite have the self-belief and gave away soft scores. It means we have to beat Leinster. There was a real atmosphere at Clermont and we have to make sure it is at another level again at Wembley."
Clermont Auvergne Floch; Nalaga, Rougerie (capt), Joubert (Williams, 67), Malzieu; James, Parra; Domingo, Paulo (Ledesma, 51), Zirakashvili (Scelzo, 76), Cudmore, Privat (White, 59), Bonnaire, Lapandry, Lauaki (Vermuelen, 64).
Tries Cudmore, Malzieu, Nalaga Cons Parra 2 Pens Parra 2.
Sin-bin Cudmore 21, Zirakashvili 40.
Saracens Goode; Strettle, Powell (Ratuvou, 62), Barritt, Wyles; Hougaard, Wigglesworth (De Kock, 49); Carstens, Brits, Nieto, Borthwick (capt), Vyvyan (Botha, 51), Burger, Saull (Joubert, 51), Brown.
Try Strettle Con Hougaard Pen Hougaard.
Referee P Allan (Scotland). Attendance 16,007.
