Top 14 – After the Plummer excitement and the Kremer imbroglio, Clermont is back to basics with “a new state of mind”

Hat nailed to the head, hands in the pockets, not very talkative mood… Has the arrival of winter already impacted Christophe Urios? Shortly before the trip from Clermont to Lyon (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.), the manager of the Jaunards made a point of speaking only about the pitch, nothing but the pitch. However, the international break was particularly dense with news at the Marcel-Michelin stadium. ASM has finally made its future opener official, by announcing a three-year contract for New Zealander Harry Plummerthe trend is (very) optimistic for an extension of Thibaud Lanen, as informed by our colleagues at The Teamand the Marcos Kremer case has caused a lot of ink to flow.

The cause? The powerful Argentinian was due to resume competition with ASM this weekend but the Pumas staff have decided to recall their flanker to face the XV of France (9:10 p.m.). A situation which seriously annoyed Urios, but who insisted on putting the church back in the center of the village. Because incidentally, the Top 14 is resuming and Clermont is in a hurry to bring back points beyond the Auvergne volcanoes. “I want to talk about Saturday's match, I've already read whole pages about Harry Plummer” blew the Clermont manager, this Thursday.

A dark history on the Lou lawn

Worst away team this season, Clermont has still not gleaned a single point away from its bases. Before kick-off on the Matmut Stadium pitch, Sacha Lotrian and the Jaunards are in the starting blocks. “We can't wait to play this match. We worked on all areas during the week, and in particular on the speed of the game given that we will be playing on a synthetic pitch. Le Lou has serious assets to showcase, we takes them as a great team and we will have to put on a high-level match. They will want to make an impression, but so will we!” motivated the left pillar of the ASM. Bloodless away, the Jaunards are also not favored in the last meetings on Lyon soil.

Since the Rhone club's comeback in 2011, ASM has only won once in eleven meetings. Worse, the Auvergnats have not brought home a point since 2019 in the Cité des Gones. In this context, and despite around ten absentees from Lyon, George Moala praises a “new state of mind” since Clermont's last victory, against Bordeaux-Bègles. “Christophe (Urios) has been talking to us about this meeting for two weeks, he described his plan to us well. We will have to adopt the good mentality that we show at home in Lyon. But I feel that we have this “fire” in us to do something there. We worked well on defense this week because we know that Lou has a very good attack Julien (Laïrle) was hard on us during the training sessions but that's normal. Defense will be key to this We are sixth without having won away, so winning in Lyon would put us in an extremely favorable position!” aims for the Tongan center. Time for action.