A mountain stands in front of Clermont. The Sharks, a South African team where several world champions play, are on the road to the Auvergnats in the Challenge Cup. The two teams face each other this Saturday, at 1:30 p.m. in London, in the semi-final of the competition.
Julien Laïrle, the Clermont forwards coach, expressed his excitement to AFP: “We are approaching this match with desire, like a final phase match, like a semi-final! It’s really great to be able to play these matches because these are matches where you really see the great teams, the great champions. It’s a very good test for us. »
Without Raka, with Jauneau
ASM has already won the Challenge Cup four times in its history (1999, 2007, 2019). This season, they are the last French team still competing in the competition. If she qualified for the final, she would challenge the winner of the other semi-final between the English from Gloucester and the Italians from Treviso.
“We are two games away from a title, one game away from a final, it is also the opportunity to mark the history of our club and reward ourselves for a season which is difficult,” added Julien Laïrle. Clermont ranks only tenth in the Top 14. If the maintenance is well underway, notably thanks to the victory against Stade français last Saturday (41-18), it has long been compromised.
Prop Rabah Slimani promises that his team will give their all: “At this level of the competition, there are only big teams left and, inevitably, it will be complicated. We have just played two high-level teams with Bordeaux-Bègles and Stade français. It’s a decisive match, not to be lost, against a team with many internationals. We will do whatever it takes to counter them. »
For this meeting, the Auvergnats will be deprived of their most dangerous attacker, the French international winger Alivereti Raka, out due to a finger injury, but they will be able to count on their nugget Baptiste Jauneau, the champion scrum half of the world under-20s last year. The South Africans field second row Eben Etzebeth or hooker Bongi Mbonambi, both world champions last October.
The Challenge Cup semi-final between the Sharks and Clermont will kick off this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Twickenham Stoop. The meeting can be followed on France 3 and BeIn Sports 3.
