Courage under fire

It may not be life or death but Stuart Barnes says we saw a slice of sporting tragedy on Friday night.

Once again Clermont fail to take their chances

Words like 'disaster' and 'tragedy' should rarely be used in terms of sport; winning and losing are simply not that important unless you happen to be part of a team playing for sport's highest stakes - in which case if you cannot quietly magnify the importance of beating the team against you, chances are the trophies will not be heading in the direction of that club. No, sport is not so important. When the dust settles the bodies tend to be back in work, preparing for the next match and the next distraction for those of us who love games. Diversions from the nine to five life and distractions for the majority of general sports fans cannot be disastrous but I think there was a slice of sporting tragedy witnessed on Friday night in Dublin. It takes a game that transcends the normal restraints of sport to enable such a claim to be made but Clermont Auvergne and Brock James took rugby supporters in general and the magnificently arrayed Clermont supporters in particular, into the realms of theatrical sporting tragedy on - how shall we phrase it with some delicacy, a Shakespearian scale, perhaps? Here was a team performing at a level of skill and intensity sufficient to break a history long run of agonising failure. Ten finals in France have come and Clermont has left them all in defeat. The Heineken Cup semi-final was awaiting the winners in Toulouse. An intensely tough challenge but one Clermont have handled successfully in recent past. What a place Paris might have been to finally crown a passionate rugby town as champions.

Man in the mirror

Instead they are gone. And gone because I solitary chink of their weaponry exploded in their faces. Brock James is one of the finest exponents of goal kicking in Europe. Week in and out he caresses the ball through the posts but this was no regular occasion; this was the champions of Europe on their own patch. James knew it, knew it too well and the magnitude of the match broke him. The five-from-10 kicks statistic is damning but even that, I think, can be forgiven by anyone with a heart. These things happen to kickers. But the personal tragedy was the brutal manner in which his psychological flaws were revealed for the watching rugby world in the last few minutes of this classic quarter final. He ran away from his responsibility to accept the pressure of trying to win his team the game. Confidence had long collapsed but still he had to take the opportunity to drop-kick his team to an away win that the brutal brilliance of the forwards just about deserved. He missed two drop kicks in the dying minutes - the first of which span off the side of his boot because he had run into a position from which he was set to pass rather than kick. Leinster were not going to let even Julian Malzieu through for a fourth try in the closing minutes but they could not have stopped a drop-kick from breaking their hearts. It was the only option. Miss it by all means, but have the courage to take the burden on and be in the proper in position to miss. He missed one because he was out of position to kick and deliberately so. In the end his fly half instincts made him at least try for the kick with his instincts screaming at him NOT to pass. Too late because his failure of courage had run him too flat and given the Irish a chance to put him under pressure; the last drop kick attempt in the last second of the match was always going to miss. He was too far from redemption on this evening of high drama, high class and personal sporting tragedy. I'll use that most serious of words because if James has recovered from the match as I sit here typing Monday morning, he is not the rugby player I have always taken him to be. The mirror will be something to avoid in poor Brock's house for some time. It was the sort of character failing that can break a sporting man. That match was the most dramatic and best of the quarter finals because it had the intensity, quality and drama all wrapped within it. The fact that Biarritz and Ospreys made this something to think on before writing is testimony to another knock out game that bordered on the great; if anything it lacked a little of the power of the forward exchanges in Dublin hence the narrow preference for Friday night.

Valiant effort

Biarritz won as I expected but the Ospreys lost in a manner that did them enormous credit. This was nothing like the feeble Ospreys quarter final efforts of the last few years. This was a team with the courage to play the game through the space whether it was in their own half or not. Some of their back play was scintillating. Had they taken just one extra of the many chances frittered away they would be formidable semi-final opponents in Cardiff. Sometimes life is simplified to merely winning and losing. It should be so for professional teams but the rest of us should have sufficient sense to see the heroics in loss as well as victory. The Ospreys lost but came of age as a European force. Biarritz meet Munster who were probably the savviest of the quartet of winners. The scrum, as so often, made fools of those who dismiss it while the tactical kicking of Tomas O'Leary into the wind and Ronan O' Gara, was a lesson for a young Northampton team not quite ready for this sort of examination; well beaten in the end but not disgraced. I am not sure the same cannot be said for a Stade Francais team that fought for every inch of ground against Toulouse for 40 minutes before crumbling in the combined face of injuries and a second-half onslaught. The Stade front row was immense but by the time they started to limp from the fray the sporting battle had become a slaughter with Yannick Jauzion dazzling. The feathery softness of Cedric Heymans try scoring pass to Patricio Albecete was the consummate moment of a quite wonderful weekend of Heineken Cup rugby that had everything we could wish for and the sort of pain the participants can only dread. In the ever-improving Amlin Cup, the tabloid dream of Danny Cipriani's last game in this hemisphere being against Jonny Wilkinson became the bookies' favoured idea of a final. Connaught will be up against it, Galway or not, when they take on Philippe Saint-Andre's Toulon, while Wasps have home advantage against a Cardiff Blues team that decimated Newcastle. Home advantage or not, Wasps will have to be at or near their best to give the headline writers their dream... and Wasps do seem to be getting there.

Stuart answers your emails...

Got a question for Stuart? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form below... PARIS CALLING
Stuart, what a fantastic weekend of rugby! I was lucky enough to be able to watch all the games and was enthralled by the action, the standard was excellent and while Toulouse's win over Stade may have been the most impressive I think there4 is no clear favourite. However with home country advantage, the French sides look set to have the advantage. You can never right off the Irish provinces but will this be a step to far for them?
Malcom
STUART REPLIES: Malcolm, Leinster were the poorer team in most ways against Clermont (who I think were, Brock James apart, were the best team of the weekend) but they were superior in one pretty important way, closing out the game. They have knowledge of knock out wins in Toulouse and big time players. As for Munster, don't you remember the way they played when they shattered Perpignan's long unbeaten home record? I certainly do....it's a trip to France, not the moon. One of the Irish teams will make it to Paris, just don't ask me which! OPSREY WOES
Morning Stuart, What do you think of The Ospreys' claims that a referee confusion cost them the game against Biarritz?
Jez
STUART REPLIES: Jez, It could have been interpreted as a deliberate knock on by Dimitri Yachvilli at the end but better to examine why the ball was not moved quicker from the breakdown and why so many try scoring chances so brilliantly created were not finished. Ask me why they lost and I'd say because Biarritz took far more of their opportunities. FEEDING THE SCRUM
Hi Stuart After several years of listening to all the commentators on all channels castigate refs for allowing feeding at the scrum. Has any official body come out with an explanation? If we yellow carded both tight or loose for more than three collapses in a row, the clubs would soon take notice and make them keep the scrum up, allowing hookers to hook for the ball and making the scrum a competitive part of the game. Do you agree and would the officials listen?
Mark Bell, Ledbury RFC
STUART REPLIES: Mark, officials seem incapable of stopping feeds any more than their football equivalents are incapable of awarding penalties when a defender tugs a striker's shirt just about every single corner. As for the collapsed scrum, I don't like the idea of an official awarding a card unless he is certain of the decision, Let's leave it there shall we? READY FOR FREDDIE?
Dear Stuart, after returning from the Gloucester v Saracens game I hear you had much praise for our recent young talent Freddie Burns. He has impressed me a great deal but when first seeing him I was worried as it reminded me of Ryan Lamb all over again, bags of talent but is he mentally acute and physically capable in defence. After seeing him more this season he has proved me wrong which I am delighted with. My question to you is that how far do you think he can go. I know it is to early to start talking about England but he has represented the Under 20's a lot and do you think players like him and Tom Homer should be given a step up to the Saxons? Anonymous, via email
STUART REPLIES: Let's not worry too much about the Saxons yet. I think he looked the composed part yet again in defeat at Wasps. He seems a different sort of player to Ryan Lamb in my eyes; the only comparison is both emerged from Gloucester at any early age. Lamb was extremely precocious, Burns ahead of his years in terms of maturity. He does look a good one. SMITH RETURNS
Stuart - Such great news that Ollie Smith is returning to these shores, I always believed that he was underused and undervalued by England... If he returns to form I can see him as just the remedy for our outside centre position. Strong in defence, quick and great hands, he would be the perfect foil for Flutey.
Seb, London
STUART REPLIES: Seb, Ollie was a tremendous player in his prime who suffered because Clive Woodward had completed the template for his England plan and whether hew as a better 13 or not than Mike Tindall the fact was Tindall fitted the bill and Woodward was proven right. It is a while since Smith has delivered that sweet outside break of his. I would love to see it again and see Ollie back as a contender. At his best he would certainly be that. Thanks for the interest, As ever, Stuart