European Champions Cup final: Lawrence Dallaglio fears 'bridesmaid' Clermont Auvergne may struggle to rid choker tag

Saracens already have an advantage over European Champions Cup final opponents Clermont Auvergne because the French side have proven the perennial bridesmaids when it comes to major finals and may crack under the pressure of yet another grand occasion, according to two-time European Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio.

The former England and Wasps captain believes the two strongest sides in Europe this season have reached Saturday’s final at Murrayfield in a competition that “never fails to disappoint”, although the 44-year-old does admit that the 2016/17 campaign has been one of the more competitive versions in recent years.

The bulk of the attention heading into the Murrayfield final has been on reigning champions Saracens as they look to become just the fourth club in the history of the European Cup to successfully defend the trophy after Leicester Tigers, Leinster and Toulon, having defeat Racing 92 one year ago. But for Clermont, the final represents their latest opportunity to break their European heartbreak, having developed the unwanted reputation as the nearly-men as far as the Champions Cup is concerned.

They may have succeeded in the 2010 Top 14 final for the first time in their history, but they also have 11 top 14 runner-up finishes to their name, along with two European final failures, and Dallaglio believes that when the pressure is on this weekend, they may just start to feel it more than their opponents.

“They’ve been knocking on the door for so long,” Dallaglio tells The Independent. “They’ve always been the bridesmaid, never the bride, and Saracens too, they’ve been through that themselves, they had a bit of heartache in getting to finals and not quite getting over the line.

“You’ve got to say the confidence will be with Saracens due to both their domestic and European success, Clermont you feel that as the pressure keeps coming on with every defeat that they have in these big games, it creates even more pressure and they cramp up and are they able to pull it off? I think the half-backs on both sides will have a quality certainly and will try and look to control where both their sides play the game.

“I think you could argue that Clermont just need to win one of these games, it doesn’t really matter that it’s against Saracens. Obviously there’s a bit of history but I think it’s more about Clermont just getting one of these games. They keep putting themselves in position to win, no side has ever lost three finals so they certainly don’t want to be the guys that come to do that first.

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Such has been the pain that Clermont have been through, with defeat in both 2013 and 2015 coming against three-time champions Toulon, Dallaglio admit he would be happy to put his allegiance aside in order for the French team to finally get on the European scoreboard.

“As much as I’d like to see an English club win the competition because I’m English myself and I think it’s great for the game over here, I think there aren’t many people who would deny Clermont if they finally got one over the line,” he adds. “They’ve had that heartache, and it’s tough to deal with.”

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After all, he would know about what it takes to win on the biggest stage. Dallaglio may be best known for being part of the famous England back-row that helped win the 2003 Rugby World Cup, but it was his success in Europe that came to define his club career. Like Saracens achieved last year and are bidding for again this month, Dallaglio won the double in 2003/04, winning the Heineken Cup a week before adding the Premiership title, before adding a second European Cup in 2007, but he’s in no doubt which one stands out more.

“Any player will tell you that to win that first European trophy is very special and that stays with you for the rest of your life,” he recalls. “For me against Toulouse, it happened to be at Twickenham and Toulouse were the team to beat in that era, the Galacticos if you like, and that was special because it was at the home of English rugby and it was such a dramatic game that after the incredible semi-final against Munster, we had the Rob Howley grubber-kick down the line and score the most wonderful of tries.

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“That one sticks with you, in those days you didn’t have much time to celebrate or reflect because we had the Premiership final five or six days later but I think that winning trophies like that becomes infectious and to try and do that a number of times is the challenge and that’s what Saracens are trying to emulate and if they do it will be down to a huge effort from the whole team.”

Unlike both teams that take to the Murrayfield pitch on Saturday, Dallaglio never experienced the hurt of a European final defeat. But unfortunately for either Saracens or Clermont, one quest to re-write history will end in failure.

Ahead of the European Challenge and Champions Cup Final rugby tournament in Edinburgh this weekend, the Official Airline Partner of the tournament, Turkish Airlines challenged Lawrence Dallaglio and amateur Turkish Rugby Team Kadikoy to a scrum with an Airbus A330 at Sabiha Gokcen Airport in Istanbul. Visit www.turkishairlines.com for further information.