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Clermont crush Harlequins in Champions Cup opener

Chris Robshaw

Harlequins suffered a heavy defeat in their Heineken Champions Cup opener at Clermont Auvergne on Saturday, losing 53-21.

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The excellent Alivereti Raka and Peceli Yato scored two tries apiece in a dominant display from the three-time finalists, who were making their return to the competition after failing to qualify for last season’s tournament.

https://twitter.com/AndyGoode10/status/1195756639850319874

Clermont opened up a 22-0 lead inside 25 minutes and kept Quins firmly at arm’s length throughout.

Raka raced clear for Clermont’s opening try after pouncing on a loose pass in the 11th minute, with Morgan Parra – who had earlier opened the scoring from the tee – adding the extras in front of the posts.

Yato then powered over for the first of his double, dragging desperate challenger Marcus Smith behind him, and brushed off Glen Young to break Quins’ defensive line and charge towards the line for his second.

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Tom Lawday reduced the deficit when he touched down 11 minutes from half-time, but Clermont reasserted their authority on the match when Isaia Toeava collected a George Moala offload to cross the whitewash.

A driving maul produced a Quins try through Elia Elia in the 51st minute, before Clermont spread the ball out to the left wing with the help of a well-judged Camille Lopez kick for Raka to cross for his second of the match.

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Lopez was instrumental once again in his side’s sixth try, sending through a chip that was chased down by Moala.

Quins’ final score of the match deserved better than to be on the losing side, with Gabriel Ibitoye embarking on a scintillating run before sending James Lang over.

But Clermont had the final say in a match they controlled from start to finish, Mike Tadjer applying the finish after a driving maul.

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J
JW 7 minutes ago
Ex-All Black Richie Mo’unga teases return to ‘Test match setting’ in 2025

They didn’t really let him go though did they. He was gone, already signed to leave some 18 months earlier. Not much they could do.


Definitely a shame though, hence why I criticize the coaching for not unlocking that composure earlier. We would have seen he was definitely the player we need to take us through that WC, and the next, before the contract talks started. After, was too late. Conversely, if he had of continued to play the way he had been when he signed to go to Japan, I have no doubt Damien McKenzie would have been the player to lead us in 23’, and then we very likely would have won that Final. I’m not so sure Dmac would hve been good enough to get us past Ireland, Richie definitely deserves a lot of credit for simply getting us to the Final.


But that was all my message to HHT was. That class, or talent in this case, is permeant, and games like Ireland showed he did definitely had that. Obviously Richie’s got a large responsibility in realizing it sooner too, but in terms of not displaying it when it counts in 2019 or 2023, I reckon that’s on the coachs more than a lack of talent on his part, and it’s the same shame when it comes to your sentiment. If he was at the point were he could have saved out bacon against Ireland in 2022, it might not have been too late for NZR to have come in with a big contract offer. The bigger problem now is that Razor is only exasperating that problem with this new group. We now clearly know he was a big factor in Richie taking so long, because he’s replicating the same problems with the current batch. Thankfully NZR had no other option but to offer a big contract to secure Dmac this time though, regardless of how he must have felt after being treated like that.

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L
Louise Hayward 22 minutes ago
Zainab Alema breaking new ground: ‘I had to invest in sport hijabs to play comfortably’

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H
Head high tackle 56 minutes ago
Super Rugby draw heavily favours NZ sides but they can't win in Australia

Very targeted article that writes to deliberately put across a fake point. Please John tell us who each side has played?

Why has NZ and AUs sides not really clashed? Because of all the “local” derbies John. How many times will the Reds, Brumbies, Tahs and Force , play the Blues, Canes, Saders, Highlanders, Moana and Chiefs John? ONCE per season. If you want to write an article about the failings of the draw then please write about the actual failings of the draw, Not a fabrication about the draw being unfair to the actual sides it heavily favours. Not 1 Aus side will play an NZ team twice to get to the finals. ALL NZ sides will.

To give you ONE example lets look at the Blues draw.

In 9 rounds so far they have played every NZ based side. ( 5 games ) then the Canes twice, Chiefs twice, And this weekend they play the 2nd game v the Saders this season. ( 3 more games ) so the only side they have played thats not an NZ based team is the Brumbies. 1 GAME! Still to play the Reds, Tahs, Force and Drua and will only get 1 game V those sides.


There are 4 Australian sides John. Pure maths tells me that means 2 home games against Aus sides and 2 away games v Aus sides. So basically NO NZ side should ever play more than 2 games in a season in Aus. Aus cut their teams down to 4. This is the direct result.


Yes the draw is not fair, but that heavily favors Aus sides. Either have 1 round or have 2, but this 1.5 rounds isnt fair to ALL NZ based sides.

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