Saracens boss Mark McCall said “it does not really matter” who they face in the Heineken Cup final after a record-breaking win against Clermont Auvergne.
They set new semi-final marks for most points scored (46), most tries scored (six) and biggest winning margin (40), as they romped home 46-6 on Saturday.
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“It was a special day and hopefully sets us up for something more memorable [in the final],” McCall said.
“The togetherness, the fight… it was brilliant.”
Champions Toulon meet two-time champions Munster in the second semi-final on Sunday in Marseille.
Toulon beat Saracens in the semi-finals last year as former England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson kicked all the points in a 24-12 victory, but McCall is relaxed about who the Londoners meet in the final.
“It doesn’t really matter,” he insisted. “Everyone thinks it’s going to be Toulon but you write Munster off at your peril.”
Saracens ultimately ran out convincing winners, with Chris Ashton bagging a brace to set a new record for Heineken Cup tries scored in one season with 11, but they enjoyed some luck initially.
Referee Nigel Owens’ decision to award them a penalty try after Clermont fly-half Brock James deliberately palmed the ball over the dead-ball line – “it was a tight call”, acknowledged McCall – gave them a 14-3 lead and “a cushion”.
But from there the English Premiership leaders took total control with the try-scoring ability of Ashton and some astonishing defence from man of the match Jacques Burger, who made an incredible 27 tackles as he continued his comeback from a knee injury that at one stage threatened his career, leaving Clermont shell shocked.
“Jacques’ story is incredible, really,” said McCall. “This time last year it looked like it would be over for him. He makes an incredible sacrifice to play and he was inspirational. He gave everything that he had for the team.
“We are all thrilled for Ashy. He is someone who comes in for a lot of unnecessary criticism and hopefully he got the breaks he is due today. He was exceptional today and is in great form.”
Clermont boss Vern Cotter, who leaves at the end of the season to become the new Scotland coach, admitted the margin of defeat “is difficult to accept”.
“It was a strange game. We never got the bounce of the ball and everything seemed to go their way,” he said.
On the controversial penalty try, Cotter believed it “wasn’t a deliberate action, so I think it was hard”, but admitted his side had been well beaten.
“They put us under pressure, hats off to them – we have to congratulate Saracens on their win,” he said.
Scorers
Saracens (24) 46
- Tries: Ashton 2, Penalty, Farrell, Wyles, Streather
- Conversions: Goode 5,
- Penalties: Goode, Bosch
Clermont (6) 6
- Penalties: Parra 2
Teams
Saracens: Goode, Ashton, Bosch, Barritt, Strettle, Farrell, de Kock, M Vunipola, Brits, Johnston, Borthwick, Botha, Brown, Burger, B Vunipola.
Replacements: Streather for Bosch (72), Wyles for Strettle (69), Wigglesworth for de Kock (50), Barrington for M. Vunipola (70), George for Brits (70), Stevens for Johnston (45), Hargreaves for Botha (66), Wray for Burger (69).
Clermont Auvergne: Byrne, Sivivatu, Stanley, Fofana, Nalaga, James, Parra; Domingo, Kayser, Zirakashvili, Cudmore, Hines, Bonnaire, Chouly, Lee.
Replacements: Nakaitaci for Stanley (66), Delany for James (57), Lacrampe for Parra (61), Debaty for Domingo (50), Paulo for Kayser (57), Ric for Zirakashvili (67), Pierre for Cudmore (69).
Not Used: Vosloo.
Sin Bin: James (13)
Man of the match Jacques Burger in action
Jacques Burger making one of his 27 tackles
Seems like it was a tight affair in the 2nd semi final only 5 points not coming from the boot in the whole game between Toulon and Munster. Thanks for commenting during the game all the guys who did, meant was able to go back and read through them and get a bit of an idea on what happened during the game.
Bath will play in the Amlin Challenge Cup final after they beat London Wasps away from home. Final score in their semi final today: London Wasps 18/24 Bath. Bath were trailing 10/13 at half time. 3 tries for Bath, 2 for Wasps.
The Amlin Challenge Cup Final will feature Northampton Saints and Bath and takes place at Cardiff Arms Park on Friday 23 May.
Only got to see this game yesterday.
Sarries were certainly up for it, and really took it to the Frechies.
Was a great game to watch. Hope this game wasn’t Sarries’ final, and that they still have something in the tank.
Pity Munster couldn’t pull it through at the end. Too many silly errors early on.
So, it’s the old English – French battle again for the ultimate honour.
Given the quality of the 2 semi-finals, there HAS TO BE room for a world championship somewhere.
Imagine the likes of the Chiefs, Crusaders, Toulon, Clermont, Sarries, The Tigers, Bulls, Sharks, Reds, Leinster, Munster, Waratahs etc all in an intense 2-3 week long competition.
Flip, now that I’d pay to watch.
4 @ Scrumdown:
Hello Scrumdown that club competition could be a good one, as long as it didn’t come at the expense of international rugby.
4 @ Scrumdown:
Was a really good display by Saracens. Ashton was superb showing the kind of form that got him called up for England initially, scored two tries and was involved in the build up to at least another two.
Highlights of the Saracens v Clermont match:
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