James: Kicked the winning points
Clermont fly-half Brock James kicked a last-minute drop goal to secure his side a 28-25 Top 14 win over Stade Français on Friday.
James, a second-half replacement for David Skrela, kept his composure after Australian compatriot Paul Warwick had failed to clear for Stade.
It was James' second drop-goal of the half as Clermont took their unbeaten home run to 47 matches, a record which stretches back to November 2009.
But it was hard going for Clermont who trailed 22-10 at the interval after being rocked by three tries - from Warwick in the first minute and a double from Fiji winger Waisea Vuidravuwalu before the 30-minute mark.
Prop Thomas Domingo had scored Clermont's only try after nine minutes, converted by Morgan Parra who ended the match with 17 points thanks largely to five second-half penalties.
The scorers:
For Clermont:
Try: Domingo
Con: Parra
Pens: Parra 5
Drop goals: James 2
For Stade Français:
Tries: Vuidravuwalu 2, Warwick
Cons: Fillol 2
Pens: Fillol, Porical
ASM Clermont Auvergne: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Julien Bonnaire, 5 Julien Pierre, 4 Jamie Cudmore, 3 Daniel Kotze, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Benoit Cabello, 17 Raphael Chaume, 18 Loic Jacquet, 19 Elvis Vermeulen, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Brock James , 22 Regan King, 23 Vincent Debaty.
Stade Français: 15 Hugo Bonneval, 14 Waisea Vuidravuwalu, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Jeremy Sinzelle, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Paul Warwick, 9 Jerome Fillol, 8 David Lyons, 7 Scott Lavalla, 6 Antoine Burban, 5 Pascal Pape, 4 Alexandre Flanquart, 3 Rabah Slimani, 2 Aled De malmanche 1 Stanley Wright.
Replacements: 16 Remi Bonfils, 17 David Attoub, 18 Pierre Rabadan, 19 Leiataua Tomiki, 20 Nicolas Bezy, 21 Jerome Porical, 22 Paul Williams, 23 Zurabi Zhvania
Comments
Toulousain says...
asm 1st xv taken to the wire again, while those leinster boys are still doing weights, fine conditioning, having ice baths, eating protein supplements, running through video, having massages, etc etc, getting ready for the mid-december back to back.
if asm played leinster today, it would be no contest!
and remember, if asm dropped points vs stade yesterday (or for that matter toulon, toulouse, castres, racing, the list goes on) they would not even get to play in the hcup. coming in the top 6 of T14 is certainly no cake-walk. maybe leinster would like to give it a go?? and see how much energy they have left over for the hcup then??
Posted 10:10 29th September 2012