Australian fly-half Brock James came off the bench to kick a penalty and drop goal as Clermont turned in a late burst to defeat Toulouse 18-14 in the French Championship semi-finals on Saturday.
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The defeat denied Toulouse a chance to win a record-extending 20th domestic title and also ended the reign of mythical manager Guy Noves who will take over as coach of France following this year’s World Cup.
Clermont will now meet Stade Francais in the final at Stade de France on June 13 after the capital club stunned defending champions Toulon 33-16 on Friday.
However, some sustained early pressure from Toulouse had provided them with the only try of the match as a line-out deep in Clermont territory was recycled wide for winger Maxim Medard to touch down in the corner.
Both teams neutralised each other in a midfield battle of the forwards but Toulouse won an allimportant penalty with 17 minutes left that Luke McAlister slotted home as Noves’ men took the lead.
Clermont hammered away in attack, and despite Morgan Parra’s injury, James kicked a crucial three pointer from the sidelines to regain the advantage 15-14 with nine minutes to go.
As Toulouse attempted to fight their way out of their own half, a turnover set up the 33-year-old James to smash over the drop goal that settled the match with six minutes left.
In the other semi-final, Stade Francais toppled triple European champions Toulon.
Led by the irrepressible Italian back row forward Sergio Parisse, Stade scored tries through flankers Raphael Lakafia and Antoine Bourban, before a freak late score from wing Julien Arias gave a flattering skew to the final score as they reached their first final since 2007.
Lakafia said: “I’ve no preference between Clermont and Toulouse, may the best win, as long as we’re champions at the end!”
It proved a sad end for a number of Toulon’s veteran stalwarts whose club careers ended with this defeat, including South Africa’s Bakkies Botha, Ali Williams and Carl Hayman of New Zealand.