Clermont Auvergne...

notreve

Are Clermont Auvergne the biggest chokers in professional sports?

discuss.....

sydthebeat

notreve wrote: »

Are Clermont Auvergne the biggest chokers in professional sports?

discuss.....

No.

runman

thet didnt bottle anything!

armitage bottled a clearance kick in the last 5 mins but they still managed to win.
great game 2 great sides, nothing in it.

AngeGal

I like Clermont Auvergne and think 'bottlers' is an unfair term to tag such a great team with. Notwithstanding that, the harsh reality is that they were the best team and failed to ensure their superiority was reflected on the scoreboard.

phog

AngeGal wrote: »

I like Clermont Auvergne and think 'bottlers' is an unfair term to tag such a great team with. Notwithstanding that, the harsh reality is that they were the best team and failed to ensure their superiority was reflected on the scoreboard.

+ 1

pickarooney

notreve wrote: »

Are Clermont Auvergne the biggest chokers in professional sports?

discuss.....

They're no US Ryder cup team

sydthebeat

AngeGal wrote: »

I like Clermont Auvergne and think 'bottlers' is an unfair term to tag such a great team with. Notwithstanding that, the harsh reality is that they were the best team and failed to ensure their superiority was reflected on the scoreboard.

for as good clermont were in attack, toulon were in defense. I agree that clermont were superior, but 'bottlers' isn't a fair reflection on toulon.

keith16

notreve wrote: »

Are Clermont Auvergne the biggest chokers in professional sports?

discuss.....

What do you think?

Cienciano

No. Mayo footballers are.

keith16

Cienciano wrote: »

No. Mayo footballers are.

GAA isn't professional.

Tobyglen

Near the top. They choked on a big scale today, dominated all the game yet couldn't do the business. It was the same last year against Leinster in the Semi when they were the better team. Not to mention the 10 Finals they lost beofre finally win the French championship.

This Clermont team should have 3 H-cups given the talent and the enormous budget at their disposal

thomond2006

Clermont could still win the Top14. That would make it one of their best seasons ever.

RuggieBear

no match spoilers in titles please

kksaints

SA cricket team in One-day and 20/20 international tournements are the biggest chokers.

thomond2006

If Clermont were chokers they would have lost to Munster in the semi-final.

tolosenc

I think they have massive issues with mentality in the club. They have lost so many finals in their history and won so little, it's got to be tough.

tolosenc

thomond2006 wrote: »

If Clermont were chokers they would have lost to Munster in the semi-final.

Ah now, let's be realistic...

:P

rrpc

I thought they were very poor in the red zone. Lots of handling errors that really drove me crazy, they'd get into a good scoring position and then fumble a pass or a pickup and lose possession, rinse and repeat.

Rolland let Toulon away with an awful lot at the breakdown too. It seemed the law on releasing the tackled player was more honoured in the breach. The only penalties he seemed to give in that area were for holding on.

Very frustrating match to watch.

vienne86

tolosenc wrote: »

I think they have massive issues with mentality in the club. They have lost so many finals in their history and won so little, it's got to be tough.

I agree, but let's see how they get on the the Top 14.

rrpc

thomond2006 wrote: »

If Clermont were chokers they would have lost to Munster in the semi-final.

They almost did ��

Shelflife

AngeGal wrote: »

I like Clermont Auvergne and think 'bottlers' is an unfair term to tag such a great team with. Notwithstanding that, the harsh reality is that they were the best team and failed to ensure their superiority was reflected on the scoreboard.

Is that not the definition of choking?

For all intents and purposes Clermont were home and hosed after the second try. Totally dominant at that time and couldn't put Toulon away. True it was a soft try that they gave away, but they lacked cool heads when they had the winning of the game at the end. Should have scored the dg and made a balls of it at the end.

Chokers may be harsh , but its not wide of the mark.

keith16

RuggieBear wrote: »

no match spoilers in titles please

To be fair, if anyone who hasn't seen the game / heard the result comes onto the Rugby forum before watching the game, they deserve to have it spoiled.

jimjamcos

thomond2006 wrote: »

If Clermont were chokers they would have lost to Munster in the semi-final.

They crawled over the line against Munster despite being lightyears ahead in quality of personnel. The longer the game went on and nervy it got, the more Munster looked like winning.

The definition of bottlers are teams who despite clearly being the best, fail to show it when the pressure comes on and games are there to be won e.g New Zealand in World Cups. Clermont are very close to that category based on both their Munster performance and today.

rrpc

jimjamcos wrote: »

They crawled over the line against Munster despite being lightyears ahead in quality of personnel. The longer the game went on and nervy it got, the more Munster looked like winning.

The definition of bottlers are teams who despite clearly being the best, fail to show it when the pressure comes on and games are there to be won e.g New Zealand in World Cups. Clermont are very close to that category based on both their Munster performance and today.

Quite true. One of the things Cheika brought to Leinster and Schmidt continued was utter ruthlessness. Once your foot is on the oppositions throat, you don't take it off for an instant until the final whistle.

Remember last year's final?

chris85

I think biggest chokers is not desrerved. I do believe they choked today. They were superior in their skills but they got into Toulon's 22 a number of times and failed to get much return on their efforts either due to poor work at the breakdown and also good defence by Toulon in fairness.

Also after the failed drop goal attempt they got back into Toulon's 22 and didnt seem to be looking for a drop goal as no one was back deep in the pocket, all were flat looking to run with ball. Was very suprised.

corny

rrpc wrote: »

Quite true. One of the things Cheika brought to Leinster and Schmidt continued was utter ruthlessness. Once your foot is on the oppositions throat, you don't take it off for an instant until the final whistle.

Remember last year's final?

Its more how you go about doing that thats important. Clermont never stopped trying to play rugby and extend their advantage. Arguably thats what cost them the game.

Changing tack, going into a shell and kicking the leather off the ball would have won them the game. Thats where a 10 with good game management skills would come in handy. Brock just doesn't have it.

Despite losing a few games they could have won i don't think i've ever seen any of their players, James aside, really affected by pressure. A bit of luck and a flyhalf who exerts more control and history would be different.

For the record, Toulon played their part today. It shouldn't just be assumed that Clermont had another score in them.

neilmulvey

they choked big time, and Skrela in particular is an even bigger choker then Brock James. Its a pity because they have a fantastic group of players and they are let down by having out-halves with absolutely no balls.

If O'Gara or Sexton were on the pitch for Clermont in the last few minutes they wouldnt have touched the ball until it was passed to them for the drop goal. When he did get the ball he wasnt even ready for the pass.

When the game broke up in the end they tried to run around Toulon instead of trying to set up another drop goal attempt, obviously because the rest of the players knew their out-half was a choker.

I was impressed by some of the Toulon interviews after the game. Wilkinson and Giteau I thought spoke very well and in general I thought they looked like a group more interested in winning then in money which was always a big criticism of them.

Was hoping Clermont would win because the games with Leinster in the last few years have been really entertaining.

RuggieBear

keith16 wrote: »

To be fair, if anyone who hasn't seen the game / heard the result comes onto the Rugby forum before watching the game, they deserve to have it spoiled.

rugby thread titles appear on the main boards page too...that's the main issue

Woody1997

Leinster, Toulouse or Munster would never have lost that match from the position clermont were in. They had Toulon on the ropes and made stupid decisions throughout the second half

CoDy1

Chokers is harsh but the truth remains that they are still the best team to have never won the HC.

Have they never heard of drop goals?

Besides the block down, they had so much possession to set more up it was criminal.

toomevara

CoDy1 wrote: »

Have they never heard of drop goals?

+1. Chokers, not chokers, whatever. Professional rugby is a feckin' harsh mistress. Nobody has a god-given right to turn up and win on any day especially facing a talented, well-skippered team like Toulon.

But Clermont definitely lacked composure yesterday, at key points. That's ultimately what cost them the match as there was really nothing between the teams on the pitch. They could just as easily have won that match as lost it and there'll be a few heads scratched in perplexity at the Clermont camp today, no doubt.