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The club which currently sets the pace in the
Top 14 in France has a magnificent, formidable
history, yet it regards itself as one of the game’s
great under-achievers, and famously relishes the
notion that it is a constant underdog.
Ulster will be rather more realistic about the
challenge posed this lunchtime, not at all in
thrall to the visitors but very aware of the threats
which come from every department. Les Kiss
and the players will have applied themselves with
considerable vigour and focus this week, Europe
is important to a club which undoubtedly has
failed to realise its ambitions and potential in the
Champions Cup far too often.
Gone is the pall which threatened to hang over
the squad and the supporters who watched
the PRO12 leadership squandered with a
succession of defeats, a nadir of sorts reached
when Edinburgh somehow managed to send a
team lacking cohesion and lacking confidence
back to Belfast without even the solace of a
losing bonus point.
The postponement two weeks ago of the game
here against Zebre was frustrating, because the
determination to get back on track, to play to the
strengths of such a quality-packed senior panel,
was palpable. A week later redemption of sorts
came with a classy display for much of the game
at Cardiff, five tries scored, five points secured,
and if there was a period late in the game when
concentration slipped and afforded Cardiff a
glimpse of an unlikely victory, there was evidence
in the closing moments that perhaps a corner
has been turned, doubts allayed.
Chris Henry was back in an Ulster jersey for the
first time this campaign, and at his marauding
disruptive best, while Stuart McCloskey slipped
back into midfield as powerful and creative as
ever. It was a night in Cardiff when hope was
definitely rekindled, a deadly rival put to the
sword, and individuals casting off some recent
inhibitions. This was an Ulster which could stir
the fans blood, and today the teeming Kingspan
will look for the character and resolve of the
Arms Park to be replicated against France’s
best.
Ruan Pienaar was imperious in Wales, and how
he’ll relish the clash with Clermont. The scrum-
half who has made himself such a Kingspan
favourite and who will go down as one of the
greatest players ever to wear the white shirt, has
pledged that he will do everything in his power
to leave in the summer, a trophy tangible proof of
his – and the squad’s – talents.
Another ‘big beast’ in Rory Best returns after
his autumn heroics for Ireland, and with Charles
Piutau and Iain Henderson falling into the
world-class category, there really is solid cause
to believe that Ulster’s recent record against top-
class French opposition can be maintained. A
year ago Toulouse was beaten twice within eight
days by a side playing attacking, concentrated
and intelligent rugby. Clermont Head Coach
Franck Azema will be well aware of Ulster’s
capabilities, and having rested several of his
big names in the high-scoring defeat at Pau
last weekend he’ll not want to follow an all-too-
familiar trend of French teams under-performing
‘on the road’.
In 2011, just after he took charge of the club,
Ulster – en route to a Heineken Cup Final – beat
his side and he exacted very narrow revenge in
the Auvergne-Rhone Alps, so he’ll have steeled
his squad for the cauldron he sees for the first
time this weekend, Kingspan Stadium.
The coach does ‘buy into’ the Clermont belief
that it is always the underdog, that it hasn’t
always been dealt a winning hand, despite the
evidence of its pre-eminence domestically for a
decade and more. Yes, it was at the 11th attempt
that the Holy Grail of the French championship
was achieved first in 2010, then repeated in
2015, but it was perennially in the Final shoot-
out, first as Montferrand – a name by which it is
still commonly known – then as ASM Clermont
Auvergne, the rugby element of a remarkable
sporting complex, AS Montferrandaise.
Great players litter its history and its current
roster: Philippe Saint Andre, Pat Howard, Olivier
Merle, David Skrela, Alessandro Troncon, John
Smit, the Rougeries, Jonathan Davies and Lee
Byrne have contributed to the growth of a rugby
Over the next week Ulster and this afternoon’s visitors to Kingspan Stadium are going
to become very familiar with each other – in the sporting sense!
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