ASM Clermont proved a major point on the first day of the Top 14 with a bonus point win at La Rochelle, a side who last lost at home over 11 months ago. Clermont ran the maritime club ragged, scoring five tries from a mixture of forwards and backs. The try scorers were Jedrasiak, Abendanon, Strettle (on debut), Bardy and Iturria. Camille Lopez kicked with 100% accuracy and martialed his troops, effortlessly slipping teammates through gaps in the porous La Rochelle defence.
The game began with regular knock-ons and other simple errors that should have been ironed out on the training pitch and pre season and indeed the initial pass that lead to the first try dribbled along the floor. Rougerie inside his own 22 set his man, passed right to Strettle who also drew players with a step making ample room for Abendanon to make a 60m break down the right wing. This lead to an offload in the direction of the supporting second row Paul Jedrasiak who impressively kept pace with the back line move to finished under the posts.
The second Clermont try began by stretching La Rochelle as wide as possible on their own 22 with strong running and as they swept right to cover the latest crash, quick recycling allowed Camille Lopez to take the ball to the gain line and put Abendanon through a fullback sized hole and with the Maritime club’s full back in the defensive line he had a free run in under the posts. Patrice Collazo the La Rochelle coach said in a post-match interview it was this try that disheartened the players the most.
During the first half La Rochelle proved a point that with ball in hand they have dangerous runners especially at first reciever, with Lekso Kaulashvili recieving a worthy mention for great attacking play and physicality, bursting through the Blue and Yellow defence. Furthermore if there were any territory to be made with a kick or some invention needed Enrico Januarie was on hand and had a very energetic first half but all this enterprising rugby only led to one penalty kick from Zack Holmes.
Score at the interval 3-17.
The Clermont onslaught began in earnest immediately after the break with Strettle running in an easy try with the ball simply passed to the right through the hands of the back line five metres out. Julian Bardy was next to get his name on the long list of scorers after taking full advantage of a Jedrasiak break from a mountain of mayhem on the half way line, nobody knew who had the ball until Jedrasiak swept through his confused opposition and offloaded to bardy who had 30 metres of open field to celebrate in before touching the ball down for five points.
To be fair to La Rochelle the next 30 minutes were hard fought with only a Lopez drop goal scored against them in the 53rd minute, even when a man down for 10 minutes because of a Jone Qovo stamp in the ruck. However in the 75th minute a herculean run from Arthur Iturria the replacement second row on the left touchline bulling over Gabriel Lacroix and dotting down in the left corner.
Next week La Rochelle meet Racing away in Paris, and if their away form from last year is anything to go by, it will be a long week ahead for Patrice Collazo and his men. Clermont on the other hand will face Grenoble at home, with both teams on a high from scoring an offensive bonus point in the first round the match is set to be a classic.
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