Clermont, a company team in the company town of Clermont-Ferrand, are unbeaten in 74 fixtures at Stade Marcel Michelin. But as Leicester’s older guard know from distant experience, however astonishing the record it is made to be broken.
This includes Leicester coach Richard Cockerill, a Clermont as well as Leicester player during a career that included 27 caps as England hooker and a member of the great Tigers sides who had a 57-game unbeaten home run of their own from 1997-2002.
“This is the toughest place you could have to go in a quarter-final but that’s our fault for not winning at home against Ulster,” he said yesterday. “With Clermont’s home record, this is our opportunity to make some club history.
“For once the expectation is not on Leicester. It’s not pressure-free but we can play with the shackles off, throw everything at the game. If we win, it’s huge for us. If we lose, everyone expects it. It’s almost a win-win situation, which is unusual for Leicester.”
Cockerill’s suspicion that his Tigers can pull off their finest European victory since ending Munster’s equally formidable run in Limerick in 2007 is fuelled by their thrashing of Exeter and significant defeat of Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens.
Clermont, last season’s runners-up, lost last weekend to Brive. And though inevitably that was away from the Auvergne, Cockerill detects some of the tension within the sound of the Clermont church-bells as he experienced when Leicester were in a similar position in the early 2000s.
Leicester"s Richard Cockerill confident of challenging Clermont
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