CLERMONT WERE ONCE again denied European glory by Toulon on Saturday, but their fullback Nick Abendanon can at least look back on his try fondly.
The former Bath man carelessly kicked the ball away in the build-up to Mathieu Bastareaud’s five-pointer right on half time but backed himself to get it right midway through the second half.
Abendanon spotted a raft of forwards standing in midfield and exploited the mismatch excellently.
A lot of people think Abendanon should be included in England’s World Cup squad on the back of his strong Champions Cup form and it will be interesting to see if Stuart Lancaster brings him in.
The guys on Sky pointed out very well actually that Abendanon went for the chip and chase because Halfpenny was way out of position. A genius move that can be made easy as long as you pick the best time to do it. Not many fullbacks pull this off, so fair play to Nick.
His madness in stoppage time on the half was what lost it for Clermont. That was a 9 point swing and the amount of confidence lost coming out for the 2nd half must have been horrid. Bad result for Rugby methinks..
Everything that’s been said here is true but alternatively when Mitchell burst up through 4 clermont players and abendanon was last line of defence he failed miserably to halt his march. So missing bread and butter tackles won’t allow him pass brown or Goode.
The England back line I would love to see.
15=Nick Abendanon 14=Christian Wade 13=Jonathan Joseph 12=Kyle Eastmond 11=Anthony Watson 10=George Ford 9=Joe Simpson
Just recognised that 5 of these would be Bath players if Abendanon still played for Bath but then again he mightn’t even have been considered for England had he not gone to Clermont.
If I was the coach though I probably wouldn’t start this team due to their inexperience and defensive frailties.
You certainly couldn’t start Simpson ahead of Youngs, Sam. And when he’s back to full fitness, there’s no doubt Mike Brown will occupy the 15 jersey the entire WC.
That’s why I said what I’d like it to be not what it will be