Castres stun Clermont to reach Top 14 final

NANTES, France (AFP) –

Castres’ scrum-half Rory Kockott (C) kicks the ball during their French Top 14 semi-final against Clermont-Ferrand on May 25, 2013 at the Beaujoire Stadium in Nantes, western France. Underdogs Castres completed a miserable week for Clermont by defeating the favourites 25-9 in Nantes on Saturday to reach the French Top 14 final against Toulon.

Underdogs Castres completed a miserable week for Clermont by defeating the favourites 25-9 in Nantes on Saturday to reach the French Top 14 final against Toulon.

Smarting from their painful 16-15 defeat to Toulon in the European Cup final in Dublin a week ago, which denied them a first-ever continental crown, Clermont failed to produce their trademark swashbuckling rugby as they limped out of the competition with barely a whimper.

Clermont had finished top of the table during the regular season, scoring the most points and conceding the fewest. They also broke the French record for longest winning run at home during the course of the season and coach Vern Cotter said they still have much to be proud of.

“Castres were better. We had two failures at the beginning of the match and that didn’t give us confidence. Then we came out in the second half and conceded a try on the counter, it certainly wasn’t our day,” he said.

“We’re disappointed, we left a lot in Dublin and Castres didn’t let us develop our attacking game.

“I don’t think it was a physical (problem) but moreover that we hadn’t got over Dublin.

“But it’s a good season, we finished first (in the table), beat our record of invincibility at home but we haven’t finished with a win.”

Castres players celebrate victory at the end of their French Top 14 semi-final match against Clermont on May 25, 2013, at the Beaujoire stadium in Nantes, western France. Castres won 25-9.

Having beaten Castres comfortably at home earlier in the campaign, although they were narrowly beaten away, they were expected to storm to victory, despite nursing a hangover from their defeat in Dublin a week ago.

But South African scrum-half Rory Kockott kicked 20 points and centre Romain Cabannes raced 70 yards to touch down the only try of the game 16 minutes from time after intercepting Mike Delany, who kicked three penalties for Clermont.

Castres captain and fly-half Remi Tales admitted his side will be outsiders again in a week.

“We managed to overcome the occasion and not ask ourselves too many questions,” he said.

“Position by position (Toulon) are better than us but everything is possible in a single match.”

Clermont were a mere shadow of their normal selves and suffered a nightmare afternoon, particularly in the scrum where Castres dominated.

It means coaching pair Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers may yet bow out in ultimate style before leaving to take over at big-spending Racing-Metro next season.

Castres’ lock Christophe Samson (C) is lifted by teammates in a line-out during their French Top 14 semi-final rugby union match against Clermont-Ferrand on May 25, 2013 at the Beaujoire stadium in Nantes, western France. Underdogs Castres completed a miserable week for Clermont by defeating the favourites 25-9 in Nantes on Saturday to reach the French Top 14 final against Toulon.

Having reached the quarter-finals in 2010 and 2011, and then the semi-finals last season, Castres are now in an unexpected final, although they will have their work cut out to deny a Toulon side riding the crest of a wave following a first-ever European title last week and a 24-9 success over reigning champions Toulouse in their semi-final on Friday.

A measure of Clermont’s troubles was evident from the first quarter-of-an-hour as scrum-half Morgan Parra, usually so reliable with the boot, missed two penalties.

That allowed Castres to take a 6-0 lead as Kockott proved unerring himself from the tee and he had notched four successful kicks by half-time as Delany took over from Parra and kept Clermont in touch, although they trailed 12-3 at the interval.

Any hopes a second Delany penalty on 46 minutes would change the flow had already been extinguished by a fifth kick from Kockott, who added a sixth before Delany’s third on 59 minutes.

Trailing by nine points, Clermont really needed a try to turn the momentum in their favour but Delany’s overly ambitious pass to Wesley Fofana was cut out by Cabannes and with that Clermont’s hopes went up in smoke.

Castres have not won the French title for 20 years and are looking for a fourth crown. Toulon likewise are going in search of a fourth title and their last win was the year before Castres’ in 1992.