In the meantime Seremaia Bai brought a cheer with his first bullocking run from deep but it was Aurelien Rougerie’s burst that brought the crowd to its feet. However Clermont’s captain found Chris Ashton in good defensive form, his support knocked on and Saints were given a scrum.

The Saints’ first foray into the home half came after eight minutes. The defence was too strong for Paul Shields, won the ball and sent it wide. But Rougerie again found Ashton hard to pass and the Frenchman was bundled into touch.

Nevertheless Clermont were dominating and after a couple of phases pulled in the defence fly half Brock James spotted wing Thomas Combezou in space on the left. A triple tackle put paid to that attack and Saints should have had a good breakaway attack when they won the ball.

Jon Clarke did everything right by drawing in his man. Unfortunately his pass went behind Ashton, who was cruising ominously on the outside. Clarke followed his centre partner James Downey into the medical room with a cut shortly after. Downey returned a minute into the second quarter and was immediately called into defensive action as Clermont set up camp in the Saints 22.

Again the rearguard was too strong and Saints won a penalty to clear. And just before the half-hour they had their own chance to build pressure thanks to Sean Lamont’s superb chase of a Spencer kick. This won the visitors a lineout on the left, which they replicated on the right when Clermont conceded a penalty.

An accidental offside temporarily ended the possession but Saints weren’t done yet. They won the scrum back, pushed Clermont back a good 10 metres (churning up the pitch in the process) and from the re-set Lee Dickson sent Bruce Reihana in at the corner. Reihana missed the conversion but Saints were nonetheless up by five points.

The other stand-out moment from a Saints perspective was a bone-crunching Neil Best tackle that ended a Clermont attack as soon as it had begun. Best was called into action once more not long after and his scything down of Alexandre Lapandry stopped a certain try. But Clermont were awarded a penalty in midfield, went first right, then left and then over the line. Gonzalo Canale scored the try, James the conversion and Clermont had a 7-5 lead they kept until the break, despite a late charge by the visitors.

Director of rugby Jim Mallinder made wholesale changes at half-time. Actually there was a change of shirts and virtually an entire new side! Clermont too made changes, although theirs were staggered through the opening 10 minutes of the half.

But the action continued to pulsate. Ben Foden and Courtney Lawes both made promising starts with breaks that troubled the home defence and they would continue to make their mark through the half. Unfortunately for the visitors it was Clermont who scored next through their fly half James.

It was a bizarre try. James had looked for centre Pierre Manuel Garcia with a neat chip, but hit the post. Ben Lewitt claimed but then lost the ball and James recovered to score and convert to take the lead out to 14-5.

Saints nearly created a replica of this effort, but the rebound from Stephen Myler’s kick bounced agonisingly away from Ansbro, who was also just eluded by a Barry Everitt cross kick after 65 minutes.

Unfortunately the visitors did not get the second try their efforts deserved after dominating much of the third quarter. Foden continued to probe around the fringes, the back row combined as a unit and the lineout functioned well. The back line too showed promise with Everitt and Myler swapping positions in attack regularly.

But the hosts couldn’t make a breakthrough either, despite Julien Malzieu’s smart touchline break. It also took a heroic effort from the forwards to hold out a powerful Clermont maul but that was the final opportunity and Saints can build on this promising opening over the coming pre-season matches.

Nottingham are the next opponents on Friday evening (August 22nd). Kick off at The Bay is at 7:30pm with entry £5 (adults) and £1 (juniors). Tickets will be available on the gate.

Teams:
Clermont Auvergne – Bai; Rougerie (capt), Canale (Mignardi 48mins), Garcia, Combezou; James (Baby 63mins), Mignoni (Malzieu 48mins); Davison (Ric 71mins), Cabello, Debaty (Luzupone 48mins) (Zirakashvili 50mins), Samson (Pierre 68mins), Jacquet, Lapandry (Alexandre 68mins), Audebert, Alexandre (Vermuelen 48mins).

Saints 1st half – Reihana (capt); Ashton, Clarke (Lamont 17mins), Downey (Mordt 9-22mins), Ansbro (Clarke 36mins); Spencer, Dickson; Tonga’uiha, Shields (Hartley 34mins), Murray, Fernandez Lobbe, Rae, Best, S Gray, Hopley.

Saints 2nd half – Everitt; Reihana (capt)(Ashton 63mins), Clarke (Ansbro 51mins), Downey (Mordt 51mins), Lamont; Myler, Foden; Smith, Hartley (J Gray 63mins), Broster, Lord, Day, Lawes, Carter, Lewitt.

Scorers:
Clermont Auvergne – Tries: Canale, James; Cons: James (2).

Northampton Saints – Try: Reihana.

TIMELINE:
33mins SAINTS Try Reihana 0-5
39mins CLERMONT Try Canale Con James 7-5
HALF-TIME CLERMONT 7 SAINTS 5
57mins CLERMONT Try James Con James 14-5
FULL-TIME CLERMONT 14 SAINTS 5