Top 14 joy for Stade Francais means more heartbreak for Clermont
Stade Francais claimed their first Top 14 title since 2007 when the boot of Morne Steyn earned a 12-6 victory over injury-hit Clermont Auvergne, who once again suffered final heartbreak on Saturday.
Stade Francais claimed their first Top 14 title since 2007 when the boot of Morne Steyn earned a 12-6 victory over injury-hit Clermont Auvergne, who once again suffered final heartbreak on Saturday.
Clermont, without key backs Wesley Fofana, Jonathan Davies and Noa Nakaitaci, have now lost 11 of their 12 French top flight finals and also lost to Toulon in the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup final at Twickenham last month.
Once again we lose, we have this horrible reputation. There’s an anger we feel towards ourselves what with history repeating itself
“It’s just a dream,” said Stade captain Sergio Parisse, the Italian number eight who has ridden the good and bad times in Paris.
“I’m finding it tough to talk, it’s just incredible. It wasn’t a great final to watch, but we don’t care, we dealt with it and we let nothing go.”
Parisse’s counterpart at Clermont, Damien Chouly, said: “We were too naive and we missed too many points.
“Once again we lose, we have this horrible reputation. There’s an anger we feel towards ourselves what with history repeating itself.”