Intro:

Clermont Auvergne beat Saracens 13-9 in the European Rugby Champions Cup on Saturday (18th April) to reach the final of European rugby union's premier club competition for a second time in three years.

Script:

Clermont Auvergne beat Saracens 13-9 in the semi-finals of the European Rugby Champions Cup on Saturday.

Fly-half Charlie Hodgson opened the scoring for Saracens with a 15th-minute drop goal.

But his Clermont counterpart Brock James levelled 11 minutes later from a penalty.

Hodgson slotted only one of the three penalty opportunities he faced in the last 12 minutes of the half, but it was enough for a 6-3 Saracens lead at half-time.

However, that advantage was erased three minutes after the re-start when Clermont scored the only try of the game. James spotted that there was no cover behind the Saracens defensive line on the right wing and chipped a kick that Wesley Fofana collected to score. The Australian James added the conversion to make it 10-6.

Owen Farrell, who came off the replacements' bench to make his return from a lengthy knee injury, cut the defecit back to a single point with a 66th minute penalty.

Clermont lock Sebastien Vahaamahina forced a penalty five minutes later though - Billy Vunipola not releasing - and man of the match James kicked it to restore a four-point gap, 13-9, with just over seven minutes to go.