Exceptional circumstances. Stuart Lancaster must be sick of them. Just as he starts to get his head around the idea of considering Steffon Armitage for his World Cup squad (just this once, mind, because it’s you and it’s the World Cup), along comes Nick Abendanon putting in yet another performance simply reeking of the exceptional. If Toby Flood were now to guide Toulouse to the French title, these exceptional circumstances would start to feel pretty run of the mill.
After his latest man of the match performance against an English side in Europe, Abendanon confirmed he would indeed be up for joining the party in England this autumn. “I’d love to get a call from Stuart over the summer,” he said in the wake of Clermont’s astonishing demolition of Northampton, “but I’m not counting on it, because they’ve got that rule in place.
“I understand the reasons and in my heart I knew when I came to France my England career was probably over. But the World Cup! If Clermont continue the way they are and I stay injury free and keep playing good rugby, then maybe it’s a possibility in the same way that people have been talking about Steffon. If it comes, it comes and I’ll be extremely happy, but if it doesn’t then we’ve got some wrongs to right here, because this team has only won one title in the last 10 years.”
Certainly, that is an extraordinary shortfall when viewed in the light of performances such as the one they put in here. If Clermont can do this to the champions of England, no title should be beyond their grasp. But if French rugby of legend is a mystifyingly inconsistent beast this Clermont team take that to an extreme – at its best and worst, more French than the French.
How to reconcile this magnificent performance with their capitulation to Saracens in the semi-final last season? Or even their performance in the final the one before that, when in the same game they looked a class apart from the parvenus of Toulon, before offering up the softest of scores and with it the whole shooting match?
But inconsistency is not just a French concern. Northampton have developed a line in inexplicable non-performances, that might very well be described as French. This defeat sits in a concerning tradition that takes in their extraordinary home defeats to Racing Métro only a few weeks ago – the defeat that condemned them to this away day in the most unforgiving arena in Europe – and to Leinster last season.
The Saints bounced back from the latter to win in Dublin the following week, but there will be no such salvation this time. They also, however, went on to win the Premiership and are well placed – 10 points clear at the top of the table – to repeat the feat. But what this sort of experience must do to a side’s belief is anyone’s guess.
“I’m not worried about the rest of our season,” Dylan Hartley said. “We’ve got a big task next week against Exeter, a form side, away from home. So we’ve got to bounce back pretty quick. We must learn from this but I’m not worried.
“Today was a one-off game. It’s a knockout game, and they got everything right. Emotionally they were right. The intensity was there for 80 minutes, and they took their opportunities every time we gave them one. We weren’t surprised with Clermont’s intensity. That’s what you expect, especially in front of a crowd like that. It’s not the worst day I’ve ever had in Europe. But I’ve had plenty of shockers, I suppose.”
This was a particularly bad example. Hartley was part of a front row who struggled against opponents rampant around the field as much as they were sturdy at the set piece. The whole team suffered in comparison with their opposite numbers.
Tom Wood offered up a tweet that night, thanking Clermont for the invitation to their open training session. That was a bit more like it, a bit more East Midlands – some wry English understatement. It is up to Northampton now to call on some of the more vigorous Anglo-Saxon virtues in response to this humbling. Whether Lancaster then sees fit to call on that most Gallic of English full-backs, Abendanon, remains to be seen. The man himself can hardly have done much more.
Clermont Auvergne Abendanon (Delany, 72); Nakaitaci, Davies, Fofana (Rougerie, 62), Nalaga; James, Radosavljevic (Lacrampe, 72); Debaty (Domingo, 56), Kayser (Ulugia, 64), Zirakashvili (Ric, 64), Cudmore (Pierre, 64), Vahaamahina, Bonnaire, Chouly (capt), Lee (Bardy, 66).
Tries Nakaitaci 2, Fofana, Abendanon. Cons James 4. Pens James 3. Sin-bin Bonnaire 58.
Northampton Wilson (Tuala, 60); K Pisi, G Pisi (Stephenson, 74), Burrell, Elliott; Myler, Dickson (Fotuali’i, 52); Corbisiero (A Waller, 56), Hartley (capt; Haywood, 62), Ma’afu (Denman, 56), Manoa, Lawes (Day ht), Wood, Clark, Dickinson (Fisher, 56).
Try A Waller.
Referee J Lacey (Ire). Attendance 17,730
