Clermont aim to end what has to be the most extraordinary losing sequence in top-class sport when they play Toulouse in Saturday night's French championship final.

Certainly, there are other teams who have gone longer without winning a title, but none in any sport can have tantalised their fans more cruelly.

As John Cleese said in Clockwise :"I can cope with the despair, it's the hope that's intolerable'.

This will be the ninth time that fans from the Massif Central have pitched up for the French championship final believing that this would be their year. On all eight previous visits they have retreated disappointed and empty-handed as their joyous opponents paraded the Bouclier de Brennus.

Five of those defeats were by a single score. Three times they were ahead at half-time.

None since their first loss in the politically-charged 1936 final was more devastating than last year's defeat by Stade Francais. Clermont led by nine points with only 16 minutes to go, but were overtaken in the last two minutes by Radike Samo's try.

Stade aren't there this time, their place taken by their semi-final conquerors Toulouse, victors over Clermont (then still trading as Montferrand) in three finals between 1994 and 2001.

Toulouse looked impressive in seeing off Stade 31-13. Yannick Jauzion was close to his formidable best, full-back Maxime Medard made you wonder how Marc Lievremont has so far missed him out of his campaign to cap every eligible Frenchman and the pack coped well with Stade's powerful eight.

Defeat in the Heineken final has made them doubly keen to record a first domestic title - which would be their 16th - since 2001.

Clermont showed no trace of nerves in seeing off Perpignan far more comprehensively than the 21-7 scoreline suggests, but then semi-finals never were their problem. They finished top of the regular season table - and every previous leader, admittedly only four since a single pool was adopted, has gone on to take the title. They also beat Toulouse twice.

They've got serious depth. For the semi-final Julien Malzieu was left on the bench and World Cup star Viliami Delasau released for international duty, and when you saw Delasau's Fijian compatriot Napoliani Nalaga score his two tries - making it 18 for the season - you could see why.

Springbok skipper John Smit similarly spends a lot of time bench-warming, because the brilliant Argentinian Mario Ledesma usually starts at hooker. Australian Brock James pulls the strings efficiently and lands his kicks.

Against that is the weight of history. Stade Francais assistant coach Fabrice Landreau still reckons they can do it. At a moment when he might have have been tempted to big up Toulouse, immediately after the semi-final defeat, he put the odds at 55-45 in Clermont's favour. They'll settle for something much tighter, provided it turns out ninth time lucky.

Clermont Auvergne - Baby; Rougerie, Canale, Joubert, Nalaga; James, Mignoni; Zirakashvili, Ledesma, Emmanuelli, Cudmore, Privat, Audebert, Bonnaire, Vermeulen.

Toulouse - Medard; Donguy, Kunavore, Jauzion, Heymans; Ellisalde, Kelleher; Human, Servat, Hasan, Pelous, Albacete, Bouilhou, Du Sautoir, Sowerby.

Referee: E. Darriere
Touch judges: C. Berdos, P. Gauzere
TMO: D. Gillet

You can follow all of the action from the Stade de France here on scrum.com from 7:45pm BST.