FOLLOWING a lacklustre defeat to Stade Francais on Saturday, Clermont Auvergne’s management conceded they had plenty of work to do ahead of their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Leinster. In a game they could have done with winning to ease their passage in the French Top-14 play-offs, Clermont looked sluggish as they slumped to a 19-10 defeat in Paris.
Head coach Vern Cotter was disappointed to concede three first-half tries, but he hoped the performance would act as a timely wake-up call before a daunting trip to Dublin.
“These types of games, if you look positively, help you bounce back and tidy up a few details,” he said. “So we’re under no illusion – we need to get our act together and tidy things up.”
Outhalf Brock James should return from injury to improve Clermont’s kicking game, but Cotter was more concerned about his normally reliable defence.
“We seemed fragile at times. We defended poorly their driven lineout in the first half, but defended very well in the second half. So it’s just a matter of joining the dots and making sure that we’re coherent from start to finish.
“I think we let them back into the game after dominating the opening exchange and perhaps believed that the game was going to be won. That in itself is a good lesson to take away.”
Coach Josef Schmidt – the man taking over from Michael Cheika next season – suggested their below-par display might have had more to do with the presence of the Leinster coach at the match.
“I know that Cheiks has managed to get over to a couple of our games and we’ve lost them both 19-10,” Schmidt said. “So I just hope that’s not an omen for when we go to Leinster – it’s getting a bit too regular for my liking.”
Leinster’s win over Munster didn’t go unnoticed in France, and Schmidt says he expects Clermont to come up against a “very strong defensive unit” at the RDS.
“I think defence wins big games, like it did in the Heineken Cup last year.
“We’d like to really try to take the game to them, but I think we’re going to have to step our game up markedly from what it was today.”
