LONDON – Toulon will be hunting their third Champions Cup trophy in a row on Saturday when they meet Clermont and will well-and-truly deserve the tag “Champions of Europe” should they make it over the line at Twickenham according to BT rugby pundit Brian O’Driscoll.
The French powerhouse will look to bounce back from their three point loss to La Rochelle last weekend and repeat the performance that saw them outclass Irish-based Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-final.
And while they have the firepower, O’Driscoll believes that complacency may be an issue. “The psychology of the team that hasn’t won it is slightly different to the team that has. Clermont has been to 3 semi-finals, one final but yet they still haven’t had the mettle,” he said.
“If I have to pick a team judging on last weekend’s performance, I’d go with Clermont just because I think 3 in a row will always be a huge shout. I just fancy Clermont being that little hungrier than Toulon”.
While Clermont will be quietly confident entering the game as underdogs, O’Driscoll said it will still take quite a performance to beat a very classy Toulon side.
“There are a lot of very very classy players in that Toulon team even though I don’t think they’re as good as last year. Toulon hasn’t been as good as previous years but they’ve still been better than a lot of teams and when they click, they really click,” O’Driscoll said in London.
“You could pick countless players (who’re playing well). The old dogs are still going strong, Ali Williams still going strong, still doing a job, still narky and looking for trouble which is good to see.”
O’Driscoll was full of tips for Clermont who will be buoyed by winning their past two fixtures and will be playing at a neutral venue at England’s home of rugby.
“You need a bit of bottle… It’s just about hanging tough. You just need to hang in there. Don’t do something silly that you hand it to someone, just hang in there and make yourself a difficult team to beat,” he said.
“Whoever has the balls to step up is the one that deserves to win”
Watch the European Rugby Champions Cup Final between Clermont Auvergne v Toulon exclusively live on BT Sport 1 this Saturday from 4pm. BT Sport is the only place to watch top live matches from the European Rugby Champions Cup, Challenge Cup and Aviva Premiership.