The sending off of Scarlets left wing Morgan Stoddart sparked a one-sided second-half in France as Clermont cruised to a 49-16 win on Saturday.
The Scarlets got off to a flying start at the Stade Marcel Michelin as Jonathan Davies scored a try after just three minutes, finishing off a great move that was started by George North and went through the hands of Scott Williams and Rhys Priestland.
Morgan Parra soon got the home side on the scoreboard with two penalties though, the second of which came after Stoddart caught the ball in an offside position and was harshly despatched to the sin bin.
Far from struggling while they were down to 14 men though, the visitors actually extended their lead by six points during that 10 minute period as Priestland kicked a penalty and then took the opportunity to slot over a drop goal from in front of the posts.
It all started to unravel for the Welshmen in the final ten minutes of the first half though. First, Parra broke away after a cleverly worked line-out before finding Sitiveni Sivivatu on his shoulder and the New Zealand international coasted over to score.
And then, with the scores level at 13-13, Stoddart was given a red card after not rolling away from a tackle and lying on the wrong side of the ball to earn his second yellow card of the afternoon.
Clermont were looking like scoring their second try of the game at the time after a great jinking run from Sivivatu but they had to settle for another Parra penalty, which gave them a 16-13 lead at the break.
The prospect of playing an entire half a man short away from home against one of the best sides in Europe is a daunting one and it is no surprise that the Scarlets struggled to live with their opponents in the second half.
The Clermont pack got the ball rolling with a penalty try in the opening couple of minutes and, although Priestland did respond with a penalty, tries from Lee Byrne and Damien Chouly wrapped the bonus point up well before the hour mark.
Byrne had Sivivatu to thank for his try after the big winger provided a deft pass for the Welshman to sprint down the right-hand touchline and Chouly crashed over in the same corner after incessant pressure from the hosts.
Julien Bonnaire took the try count to five in the final 10 minutes, with the French international back row forward finishing off an overlap in the right-hand corner where Stoddart would have been defending. And flying Fijian winger Napolioni Nalaga intercepted a tired pass from Priestland in the last minute to make it six, with Brock James adding the conversion to take the total to one short of 50 and cap a resounding win for the French side.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Tries: Sivivatu, Penalty try, Byrne, Chouly, Bonnaire, Nalaga
Con: Parra 4, James
Pen: Parra 3
For Scarlets:
Try: Davies
Con: Priestland
Pen: Priestland 2
Drop: Priestland
Sent-off: Morgan Stoddart (two yellow cards)
ASM Clermont Auvergne: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Aurelien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Brock James, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Gerhard Vosloo, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Nathan Hines, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Davit Zirakashvili, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Daniel Kotze, 19 Julien Pierre, 20 Elvis Vermeulen, 21 Loic Jacquet, 21 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 22 David Skrela, 23 Benson Stanley.
Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Morgan Stoddart, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Rob McCusker (capt), 7 Josh Turnbull, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Johan Snyman, 4 George Earle, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Shaun Hopkins, 18 Deacon Manu, 19 Sione Timani, 20 Kieran Murphy, 21 Gareth Davies, 22 Aled Thomas, 23 Gareth Maule.
Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Paul Haycock (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Dermot Moloney (Ireland)
Timekeeper: Bruno Bessot (France)
Assessor: Claudio Giacomel (Italy)
Citing commissioner: John Cole (Ireland)
Comments
damo says...
Ref decided the result big shock
Posted 09:03 15th October 2012
makemehappy says...
@Mr_Right - you seriously defending that they should have lost to Leinster lol? That would have left them with one loss and you'd fancy them to beat Ulster 9 times out of 10 on a neutral ground.
Posted 07:30 15th October 2012
Rosbif says...
kybone, you're right, probably some wishful thinking on my part. Leinster have started slowly in prior campaigns too. And we know what they've gone on to achieve!! I was also happy to see Exeter give a good account of themselves. It may be just the wake-up call Leinster needs..
by the way, if Clermont are in your top 3, who are your other 2?
(not wishing to be too pro-French, but I've got half a mind that Toulon might surprise a few people, and Toulouse won't be too shabby? then again, Sarries and Quins have both made good starts too?)
going to be a great tournament :-)
Posted 17:23 14th October 2012
Mr_Right says...
Two great attack minded teams, pity the red card ruined it. It's going to be a very interesting group, it's a shame 3 of the best attacking teams in Europe are in the same pool.
@makemehappy
losses away to Ulster, Leicester and the semi in Bordeaux would suggest they weren't the best team in Europe last year but they certainly are one of the top 3 in the competition.
Posted 12:07 14th October 2012
kybone says...
@Rosbif- Leinster left themselves too much to do! After 1 game! wishful thinking i think. They did win after all. Personally im just glad that the Chiefs gave a very good account of themselves in this first weekend because there have been some pretty derogatory remarks made about them from, mainly, Pro12 fans over the past week or 2.
Posted 10:24 14th October 2012
makemehappy says...
The first yellow wasn't stupid, it simply was instinctive. Not a professional foul and simply not a YELLOW. The second is more interesting. There is this insane myth in rugby that you have to roll away. That isn't an issue, but slowing down the ball is. Did he slow it down - you couldn't tell from the camera angles, so saying it was a RED suggests considerable naivety. What should have been a red was the resultant outcome of stamping. Two reds - no choice ref!!! Also, how come the idiot gave a penalty try??
Obviously Stoddardt needs to stick "I play scrum half for Munster" on his back, and he won't even get a yellow.
Very good Clermont performance however, from the best team in last year's competition.
Posted 20:10 13th October 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
If its a red card offence it's red. Yellow it's yellow. He's done his time for the first yellow. I'd be fine if ref had decided it was red but I don't like 2nd yellow going to sending off. Don't have to copy other sports.
Posted 19:52 13th October 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Rule change: if its not dangerous play x2 then two yellows should be 2x 10 minute sin bin not sent off.
Posted 19:46 13th October 2012
Rosbif says...
agree with you melkdave. both these teams looked very competitive. and so did exeter. and we kind of know leinster can't play worse. so this group is going to be tight.
who knows, maybe leinster have already left themselves too much to do, failing to get a 4-try bonus point, and failing to deny exeter a losing bonus point, while clermont did both to scarlets....on paper at least, a better side than exeter...
we will see!
Posted 18:33 13th October 2012
melkdave says...
Well what a start from the Scarlets ,looked very good first10-15 mins,bu allowed Clearmont to start rolling in the forwards ,andwhere under prssure.Stoddarts 1st yellow ,was stupid ,but more instintive than any thing else,his 2nd was just cyinacle and thus RED .That really changed the dynamic of the game,as before Scarlets still looked competative with the ball.But giving a team like Clearmont with their class a man advantage fatal.Scarlets still battled hard ,and looked threatening at times,but where never going to win a man down.Sets up this group very well taking the result from the RDS into consideration.No easy games in this group at all.
Posted 17:43 13th October 2012