Saracens cannot conjure second final as Clermont stir cauldron to effect

St Etienne remains an unhappy hunting ground for English sides as force of will and a partisan crowd carry Clermont to European Rugby Champions Cup final at the expense of battered and bruised Saracens

English sporting visits to St-Etienne always seem to be bittersweet. David Beckham and Michael Owen enjoyed famously contrasting fortunes here against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and Saracens departed with equally mixed emotions. They will not be involved in a second successive European final but they can forever be proud of how close they came.

Result aside, this ranked right up there with their most stirring European efforts, the amount of valour shown in adversity little short of extraordinary. Quite how Billy Vunipola, Maro Itoje, George Kruis and Brad Barritt walked away unaided at the end was a total mystery. People have been muttering about the increasing physicality of modern rugby for years but there may never have been a club game quite as raucously gladiatorial as this.

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from Sport | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1Dw0O3a

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