Champions Cup – Irae Simone keeps the immunity totem within the Clermont back lines

“What if I'm afraid? No!” With his smile from the other side of the world, Irae Simone does not seem to be crushed by the pressure of a final phase match context. Certainly, this Clermont – Bristol is a match in pool 2, but if ASM loses, it is eliminated from the Champions Cup. And for this meeting at Michelin, three days after the magic of the Coupe de Francethe former Wallaby will once again start at the center of the Clermont attack, alongside Mathys Belaubre. “It's a big challenge for us. This week, we looked into each other's eyes and reviewed a lot of images from the game in Bath. The red card weighed heavily but it's not an excuse, We didn't play to our usual standards and we never adapted.” underlines Simone, who will face the Bears for his sixth meeting in a row. A figure all the more impactful as the former Wallaby is almost the only survivor of his manager's team compositions, on the back lines. Because apart from Alex Newsome (due to the absence of Kylan Hamdaoui), no three-quarter of the ASM has played more than three matches in a row since the international break.

Urios: “He has enormous technical facility with his feet and hands”

Long troubled by injuries since the end of the summer, Irae Simone manages to keep up the matches. If he is still waiting for his real reference match, the former resident of the Brumbies is satisfied with having returned to form. “Whether it's a relief to play again? Above all, it's a testament to my resilience. It may seem selfish, but coming back after injuries and playing again is the fruit of my work! I I had a lot of support from my loved ones, my teammates and the staff” says the Australian proudly. With the injuries to George Moala (fracture of the zygomatic bone) and Léon Darricarrère (hamstrings), Irae Simone must still move up a notch in the offensive game, with more variations and creativity, and in defense, where some caramels Wouldn't hurt on the advantage line.

Regardless, Simone has the almost absolute trust of her coach. Although he was stripped of his captaincy in the offseason, Irae Simone never stops speaking, advising, ordering, as Christophe Urios reminds us. “Irae has the ability to find connections through his technical accuracy and through his communication. He has enormous technical facility with his feet and hands. He must have this creative profile, a bit like a second opener. I want to see him continue, even if he has made five consecutive matches, so he perhaps lacks a little freshness. He was trained as an opener and he has this passing quality which could make him develop as an opener. Because I like having numbers 10 who engage and attack the line. Simone also became a fly-half at Leinster but the experience was cut short due to Moala's injury which reorganized the Auvergne attack. But for now, the former Wallaby will be expected at the turning point with number 12, to guide a Clermont team at a crossroads on the Old Continent.