Hat-trick: Sitiveni Sivivatu
Clermont set up a fascinating Pool 4 decider against Ulster next week after dominating Italian outfit Aironi 82-0 at Stadio Brianteo in Monza on Saturday.
After Ulster's demolition of Leicester on Friday night, a bonus-point victory was the minimum expected of Clermont Auvergne as they travelled to Italy to face a side bottom of the pool and yet to register a point in this year's competition.
Aironi did manage to keep the visitors out for 14 minutes but they offered very little resistance thereafter and Clermont wrapped up the bonus point in the 11 minutes that followed.
Sitiveni Sivivatu got the ball rolling with two tries finished with the aplomb you would expect of a New Zealand international winger.
His brace was quickly followed by tries from Welsh full-back Lee Byrne and young French international flanker Alexandre Lapandry, at which point the job was done and the game was well and truly over.
This did not stop the Frenchmen from adding score after score though as they played with real freedom and verve.
Sivivatu's fellow winger Julien Malzieu and fly-half Brock James got in on the act before Byrne added his second and Clermont's seventh to give them a staggering 47-0 half-time lead.
And the visitors, who currently lie second in the French top 14, refused to show any mercy to their beleaguered hosts after the break.
Lapandry scored his second early on before captain Elvis Vermeulen crossed and in certain amateur competitions the referee would have had to call a halt to proceedings.
This is professional sport though and there was still time for both wingers, Sivivatu and Malzieu, to complete their hat-tricks in one of the most one-sided encounters in the history of the Heineken Cup.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Tries: Sivivatu 3, Byrne 2, Lapandry 2, Malzieu 3, James, Vermeulen
Con: Parra 4, James 7
Aironi: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giiulio Toniolatti, 13 Roberto Quartaroli, 12 Alberto Benettin, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Josh Sole, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Nicola Cattina, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Romano, 2 Tommaso D'Apice, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Roberto Santamaria, 17 Andrea de Marchi, 18 Fabio Staibano, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Filippo Ferrarini, 21 Tyson Keats, 22 Matteo Pratichetti, 23 Gilberto Pavan.
ASM Clermont Auvergne: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Regan King, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Brock James, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Elvis Vermeulen (c), 7 Julien Bardy, 6 Alexandre Lapandry, 5 Loic Jacquet, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Vincent Debaty.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Lionel Faure, 18 Clément Ric, 19 Nathan Hines, 20 Julien Bonnaire, 21 Kevin Senio, 22 Aurélien Rougerie, 23 Wesley Fofana.
Referee: Leighton Hodges
Comments
DaveJ says...
In al fairness stumpy I think the scoreline is more of an embarrassment than the comments on this site.
Posted 10:49 16th January 2012
Lucasrg says...
This is an embarrasment. It seriously undermine the whole Aironi project.
I totally agree with j615: some other franch and british teams should be there instead and just drop Aironi to the Amelin cup, not even the Rabodirect 12.
This is a club without any history, supporters and carisma. At least a Roman,L'Aquila, Milan or Tuscan side would be much more interesting.
The coaching stuff must do somethig as well, the players they got are good enough for a decent rugby game, so something has to be done.
Posted 18:59 15th January 2012
tomstodon says...
10/15th are italian international in this Aironi team and they manage to conceed 12 tries....i'm wondering what Brunel makes of this.. as an Italian who plays rugby in the uk i am utterly disappointed that They wouldn't even put up a fight.
Posted 15:58 15th January 2012
stumpy says...
Time Aironi got more hunger to win, or at least compete. Maybe the coaches should read these comments to them to find out how much of an embarrasment they are as a motivation.
Posted 13:09 15th January 2012
j615 says...
Its a very strong Clermont team but any team shouldn't be losing 82-0 at home in the HC. There are potential HC quarter finalists playing in the Amlin Cup this season: Toulon, Sale and Stade Francais they should be in the premier competition rather than Aironi. I agree that Aironi should play in the Amlin (the top Italian side qualifying for the HC) instead of the semi pro teams from Italy and free up their spaces for teams from Georgia, Russia and Portugal. Treviso on the other hand have performed well in the HC
Posted 12:29 15th January 2012
Bones7 says...
It's true, this is not making a mockery of Europe's premier competition but it is hindering their development by using funds for travelling they could use elsewhere
Posted 23:38 14th January 2012
macte says...
It's a real shame that Aironi play (or better: don't play) as they did today in the HC.
They actually refused to give a decent game to Clermont, but they never do so in the RaboDirect.
Aironi should be penalised in some way. A huge fine would do, IMO.
Posted 23:31 14th January 2012
damo says...
I said this a long time ago when Cardiff minus their first string beat them by 40 points, they don't tackle and shouldn't be in the comp, they should play in the AMLIN at best, feel sorry for top French or English teams when this muck takes their place, Buying in Naas Oliver from SA and he looks like a poor 4th division club player if you splash the cash you need to have a clue with what your doing
Posted 20:00 14th January 2012
Carpelone says...
What an embarassing team....Somebody please stop them
Posted 15:58 14th January 2012
BigRugbyBalls says...
Aironi suck.
Seriously. The ERC need to do something about this. Any decent team that gets them in a HC pool is pretty much guaranteed a QF spot. Maybe the ERC should say that you won't be able to get the bonus point against Aironi unless you score something like 6 tries. Or just make 4 points the maximum result possible against them, no winning bonus point at all.
Posted 15:32 14th January 2012