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Talk to Clermont Auvergne fans about heartbreak, and you may be some time.
This is a fanbase whose team needed 11 visits to the Top 14 Final before they eventually managed to win one.
This is a fanbase whose team reached three Champions Cup Finals in five years and finished runners-up on each occasion.
This is a team that won a second Bouclier de Brennus in 2017, a Challenge Cup in 2019, and built a state-of-the-art training facility next to their 20,000 Stade Marcel Michelin but saw Covid ravage the club’s finances.
Tearful Farewells
Academy products Damien Penaud, Judicaël Cancoriet, and Arthur Iturria had to leave, Penaud in floods of tears.
Last season Clermont missed out on the Champions Cup and in 2022-23 failed to progress beyond the pool stage.
Now though, their team may be creeping back to the top tier, with their Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 clash against English champions Northampton Saints a potential mark of their progress.
Saints are not in a good spot having lost both matches since the Six Nations, though the Champions Cup is their last hope of glory this season.
Heading to the Gardens
Clermont have longtime servants Fritz Lee, Goerge Moala, and Alivereti Raka going strong, plus they have found a useful pair of Argentines.
Benjamin Urdapilleta has filled the gap at fly-half that needed plugging since Camille Lopez departed, while flanker Marcos Kremer is uncompromising in attack and defence.
It has been a tough few years for Clermont fans, but with the Michelin Tyre Group backing them and the Clermont ‘Rugby City’ which will house Clermont’s youth, women’s, amateur and professional teams opening in 2026, there is plenty to be positive about off the pitch.
Victory at Franklin’s Gardens meanwhile would provide proof that there is on-field progress too.