Top 14 Final: Clermont Auvergne out to disprove 'chokers' tag at 11th time of asking

By Colin Spiro, 27 May 2010

If championships were won by perseverance alone then Clermont Auvergne would not currently be staring at a blank trophy cabinet and a devastating record of having lost all 10 of their previous French finals.

The fact the last three of those have come in successive seasons (2007, 2008, 2009) has merely heightened their pain, and the unwanted tags of 'chokers' and 'perennial bridesmaids' will remain in place until that ghastly sequence is broken.

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On Saturday 'Les Jaunards' will take up Thomas H Palmer's proverb and 'try, try again' as they enter their fourth consecutive Top 14 final, this time in a re-run of last year's battle with defending champions Perpignan.

Last time out they lost 22-13 and their tale of final misery dates back to 1936, when they were downed by RC Narbonne 6-3. They made the final again the following season, but lost to little known CS Vienne 13-7, while their next defeat (in 1970) was to La Voulte Sportif (who they?) when they were beaten 3-0.

Seven more losses have followed in the intervening years with Stade Toulousain being their conquerors on four occasions, as well as Stade Francais, AS Béziers and Perpignan (one time each).

This year, like last, they will be captained by 6ft 4ins blond bomber Aurélien Rougerie, the multi-skilled heartbeat of the club who has played in the centres, on the wings and at full-back already this season. The affable 29-year-old international eats, sleeps and breathes Clermont and Saturday's final will be his fifth for the club.

It will be nothing short of a crime if Rougerie collects a fifth losers medal as he seeks to end the long-standing curse surrounding the Massif Central club. It is a family quest that was first started by his father Jacques - a French international prop who played in the club's 1970 defeat to La Voulte Sportif - and no-one would surely begrudge him the honour of leading the side if they do finally break their duck.

Yet another defeat - perish the mere thought of it - and Rougerie might lean more towards WC Fields and his bastardized version of Palmer's proverb: 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no point being a damn fool about it'.

The club's long-suffering fans would also no doubt identify with contemporary American sportswriter Bill Simmons, whose various permutations of sporting grief were so splendidly encapsulated in his excellent theory 'Levels of Losing'. Simmons - a tortured Red Sox fan - has endlessly updated and amended his original thesis, with his latest version concluding that Level 1 - the most traumatic type of loss - could be verified through the equation:

(Guillotine + stomach punch) x (already tortured history) x (significance of the game itself) x catchy moniker) = Level 1

Clermont fit comfortably into his further clarification of 'already tortured history', with 'Les Jaunards' clearly fulfilling three of the six variables. Namely: (i) 'You need at least a 35-year drought without a title'; (ii) 'That 35-year rule doesn't apply to relocations' [Clermont have been re-named, but never moved] and (iii) 'During that 35-plus without a title, it's not enough to lose. You need to have your guts wrenched a few times'. How could it be otherwise after losing eight of those 10 finals by six or fewer points?

Last season head coach Vern Cotter brought in a psychologist in the build-up to the final with Perpignan, but that didn't do the trick even after Napolioni Nalaga's 11th-minute try appeared to set them on the way. In the end it was Jérôme Porical's boot which did for them, with the Catalan full-back kicking 14 points in his team's 22-13 victory.

That provided a superb story of its own as Porical, like Rougerie, was following the footsteps already trodden by his own father. Indeed, Porical junior was the latest of three generations to pull on the famous 'Sang et Orr' of Perpignan, and his unerring boot helped end a 54-year wait for the club's seventh French title. He was at it again in this season's semi-final, kicking all 21 of his team's points as they overcame Stade Toulousain, and he is likely to have a major say again in this year's final on Saturday.

Finals tend to be tight affairs, with the kickers likely to have a decisive impact on the eventual outcome, but this could be an area where Clermont, at last, have grounds for optimism. Their No 1 boot-man going into the final is 21-year-old France scrum-half Morgan Parra. Not only does he have the precocity of youth (and the abundant self-belief that can bring) on his side, he will also go into the match free of the emotional scars of some of his colleagues having only arrived at Clermont this season from lowly Bourgoin.

He has assumed the mantle of No 1 place-kicker from Australian fly-half Brock James, who has been prone to psychological wobbles on the big stage, and his performances in the play-off wins over Racing-Métro and Toulon - not to mention his starring role for France in their recent Grand Slam - augers well for Clermont.

Parra might not be everyone's cup of tea - a rugby journalist colleague of mine can hardly speak his name without slipping into a cliché-ridden diatribe about arrogant and spiky French scrum-halves - but I admire his cocksureness as much as his quick hands and deft boot. He is everything a good scrum-half should be - which I think was my colleague's point - and his input will be crucial to Clermont's quest at the weekend.

There are game-breakers and potential match-winners throughout their line-up, with the star-studded pack backed up by enough speed out wide to frighten even the most durable of defences - which Perpignan do have. The likes of Fijian flyer Napolioni Nalaga and the in-form French winger Julien Malzieu must be short odds to score in Paris on Saturday night, but can Clermont finally end their hoodoo?

I, for one, certainly hope so. It might make a great story to write about a team which has lost all 10 of its final appearances, but sport (by its very nature) is as much about success as failure and yet another blow-out would be cruel indeed for the Michelin-backed club.

Their consistency alone warrants a title, especially after they somehow contrived to lose to Leinster in this year's Heineken Cup quarter-final as James wasted 20 kickable points. The Australian underwent partial redemption as his two late kicks helped see off Toulon in extra time of the Top 14 semi-final - after Parra had gone off - and what he wouldn't give to complete the job on Saturday.

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