Clermont Auvergne 35 (6)
Toulon 29 (9)
after extra-time (at 22-22)
Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Saint-Etienne

Jonny Wilkinson's hopes of leading his Toulon side to Top 14 glory in his maiden season with the club were dashed by agonizing extra-time defeat against Clermont Auvergne.

The England World Cup winner kicked 16 points, including sumptuous drop-goal from the halfway line, but his efforts proved in vain as Toulon went down 29-35 in Saint Etienne.

The result means defending champions Perpignan will now play Clermont Auvergne in a re-run of last year’s match, which the Catalans won 22-13.

Wilkinson will now have to concentrate his efforts on trying to lead Toulon to victory in the Amlin Challenge Cup final against Cardiff, while Stade Toulousain will no doubt commiserate themselves with the thought of next Saturday's Heineken Cup final against Biarritz.

But for now the plaudits will go to Clermont, and especially to Wilkinson's opposite number Brock James, after he put his recent poor kicking form behind him to land two crucial scores for 'Les Jaunards' in extra-time.

The Australian had been relieved of his No 1 kickers’ role at the club after his recent dip in form - most notably against Leinster in the Heineken Cup - but with Morgan Parra already off the field he resumed responsibility (and success) with a 90^th-minute penalty and a mammoth 91^st-minute drop-goal.

Those two scores put Clermont 28-22 ahead after regulation time had ended with it all-square at 22-22, and Clermont surged further into the lead when winger Julien Malzieu then touched down with six minutes left.

James’ conversion made it 35-22, but there was still time for Toulon to rally with Fabien Cibray’s late converted try, although it wasn’t ultimately enough to earn them a second reprieve.

Clermont’s late win was all the more remarkable after they had seen a seeming regulation time win dramatically stolen from them due to Sonny Bill Williams’ 74^th-minute try, and five more points from the reliable boot of Wilkinson.

The eventual victors had been winning 22-12 before Williams’ score, with Wilkinson adding the conversion and a 77^th-minute penalty to send the game into extra-time.

Clermont will now be praying they can break one of the sport’s most heartbreaking runs and finally break their French championship duck at the 11^th attempt. Their previous 10 final appearances - including the last three finals in succession - have all ended in defeat for the Michelin-backed club.

France scrum-half Parra was again instrumental to their victory - as he had been against Racing in last weekend’s quarter-final - but it was a try from Georgian prop Davit Zirakashvili which finally appeared to do for Toulon in the 69^th minute.

The match was evenly poised 15-12 to Clermont at the time, with Toulon being pushed on by a massive forward effort and the metronomic boot of Wilkinson. But Zirakashvili’s score, after a Clermont forward surge of their own, finally looked to have broken the back of the Cote d’Azur club’s defiance.

It followed on from three Parra penalties in 11 minutes at the start of the second half, and looked all set to cap another resilient performance from Vern Cotter’s side, before Williams and Wilkinson combined to set up over time.

Earlier, it had been in-form Toulon who started brightest, as you might expect from a team going into the match on the back of 11 consecutive victories. Wilkinson's third-minute penalty gave them an early lead, although Clermont full-back replied with a neatly taken drop-goal just three minutes later.

Toulon, who were playing their first semi-final in 15 years, regained the lead with Wilkinson's huge drop-goal on 13 minutes, and they held on until shortly before the half hour when Parra stepped up to slot his opening penalty of the match.

But Wilkinson's almost instant reply ensured that Philippe Saint-André's side had the half-time advantage. Parra's quick-fire trio of penalties after the break wrestled the initiative to Clermont for the first time, and though Toulon briefly managed parity they were never in the lead again.

The defeat ended their four month unbeaten run, dating back to January 3rd when they lost - you guessed it - to Clermont.  

In the other semi-final full-back Jerome Porical was the Perpignan hero as he kicked seven out of eight penalties to help them rally from 9-13 down at half-time to beat Guy Noves’ Heineken Cup finalists.

The Stade coach proved good on his previously stated intention to rest players ahead of next weekend’s European showpiece against Biarritz – he made 12 changes from the side which dispatched Castres – but Toulouse still started the stronger and opened the scoring with an eighth-minute try from Nicolas Bezy.

The 20-year-old scrum-half was making only his second start of the season – with Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Frederic Michalak both injured, and Byron Kelleher rested – but he finished a typically sweeping counter-attack that also featured David Skrela, Yannick Jauzion and Florian Fritz. 

But Perpignan began to claw their way back into the game through their dominant forwards, with the Catalans earning ultimately earning a decisively favourable penalty count of 15-6. Porical kicked three of those in the first half to bring his side back to 9-13 by the break, and went on to add four more in the second period as Perpignan eventually pulled clear.

Indeed, such was Perpignan’s growing dominance after the break they prevented Toulouse adding a single point, and were even stealing line-outs by the end.

Noves threw on the likes of Thierry Dusautoir and Louis Picamoles late on try and get back in the game, but Porical’s seventh and final penalty – in the 79^th minute – finally won it for the defending champions as they battled successfully to defend the title they won last season, their first in 54 years.