‘The city will not be happy until we conquer Europe’
David Strettle finds that playing for Clermont carries responsibility, he tells Mick Cleary ‘In England, you can become a bit of a metronome. Here there is more freedom to play’
Homecomings have taken on a different tone for David Strettle. On Sunday, the Clermont Auvergne wing is heading back to Saracens, the club he represented for five seasons and with whom he won a Premiership title in 2011.
Strettle added a Top 14 medal in June after helping Clermont to the French championship with victory over Toulon, only their second title despite reaching 13 finals in more than a century of trying. The reception in the Place de Jaude was rather different to that experienced six years earlier in the outer reaches of north London.
“When I won the league at Saracens, it was very much an internal sort of joy for the team,” said Strettle. “I could have gone round Barnet and knocked on doors and said that Saracens had won the league and they’d have been like, ‘Oh yeah’, whereas in Clermont it is the lifeblood of the city.
“We got back to the main square last season and there were 60,000 there. To be part of that, to see that every car had the yellow and blue ribbons and stickers, with all the kids and grandmas wearing the shirts, you suddenly realise that although you have a day job, to train then play at the weekend, you do actually see what the impact is on the fans, the happiness it brings. Having won the league with Saracens and Clermont, the overall experience with Clermont is something I’ll never forget.”
The depth of tribal feeling that has coursed through French rugby down the generations – and which finds its more potent expression in the clamour for a Bouclier des Brennus, the trophy given to the league winners – has been distilled over the last decade into a desire also to claim a European title.
Toulouse, with four titles, were once distinct from the rest, the aristocrats of the Gallic game who recognised the pan-european dimension long before others did. Toulon has led the charge of les arrivistes, with Clermont doggedly following, intent on illustrating their status on the bigger stage. Yet, so far, to little ultimate avail.
Three finals. Three defeats, the latest of them to Saracens – 28-17 – at Murrayfield in May. The near-misses do not sit easily with Les Jaunards. “Without a doubt,” said Strettle. “I remember going into shops after the Top 14 and everyone was saying ‘Next year Europe. Next year Europe.’ You can see that the supporters want it.
It is the top honour in rugby. The Auvergne won’t be happy until that trophy is with Clermont.”
For that to happen, Clermont have to lift their game, at least if their Top 14 form is anything to go by. The defending French champions sit eighth at the moment and, fitful as Saracens have been in recent weeks, there is need for a more marked uplift in Clermont, who, like their opponents, have been hit by injury, notably to their fly-halves. Camille Lopez suffered a horrific leg break in the Champions Cup game against Northampton in October, while former All Black Luke Mcalister has also been sidelined. Nonetheless, Clermont have won both their pool matches and sit just one point behind Saracens at the top of the group.
“Perhaps there has been a bit of a hangover [from winning the title],” said Strettle. “The French can be more basics, what wins you games, about work-rate, about doing things that nobody sees, that you don’t get plaudits for. French rugby isn’t that focused on that level of work ethic but there is more freedom to play.
“In England, you can become a bit of a metronome while the French boys might not have anything happen for them and then they score a wonder try.” Clermont did just that in the final through Nick Abendanon yet lost. Strettle, 34, is weighing up a possible move back to the Premiership when his Clermont contract runs out at the end of the season but it has been a fruitful venture for him in France.
“Whenever you play for different clubs you develop as a player and I definitely feel it has benefited my game from coming here,” said Strettle who has been linked with a potential move to Bristol. “I’ve not spoken to Bristol but possibly it could be back in the Premiership. There are some offers on the table.”