Saracens on Twitter:, external After being unable to practise goalkicking for two weeks, Owen Farrell will pass on kicking duties to Alex Goode this afternoon.

First carry from big Billy Vunipola, but the Clermont defence brings him to ground before he can do too much damage. Pretty cagey opening from both sides.

Nick Kennedy
England and Harlequins lock on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Image source, Getty Images

"It doesn't feel like it's going to be an advantage for Saracens playing at Twickenham rather than Allianz Park. It feels like a neutral ground in these early stages."

First scrum - out comes the ball and Sarries look to the backs but Brad Barritt drops the ball as it goes clean through his hands and bounces off his chest. Clumsy.

Here we go... and there's an early mistake from Clermont as Sarries send a clearance kick deep. Number eight Fritz Lee slips and is scragged just outside his 22, but the French side just manage to scramble the ball clear.

Andrew Priestley:, external I can't help but feel that Saracens are only here by default after just beating a 14-man Ulster. Clermont to win by 15 points.

Nick Kennedy
England and Harlequins lock on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

"Saracens have a lot to prove. They have consistently lost out to French teams. This French power game, they're not used to it and don't deal well with it. They have gone for the biggest pack possible to try and combat the huge Clermont forwards."

French raiders Clermont have class throughout the team, with Wales' Lee Byrne and Scotland's Nathan Hines among their ranks.

Their stand-out player? Wesley Fofana, Morgan Parra, Sitiveni Sivivatu... the list goes on.

Interesting - Alex Goode is set to kick for Sarries in place of Owen Farrell. Could prove an issue for the Londoners.

Nick Kennedy
England and Harlequins lock on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

"Both teams will be so focused on the game that they won't be thinking about the crowd noise. Having 20,000-25,000 at a huge stadium like Twickenham will feel a bit disappointing to the players.

"They'll be expecting more noise and atmosphere. But they'll be able to hear each other chat out there and usually you can't hear a thing because of the noise. So that might calm things down a bit."

Saracens welcome back Scotland captain Kelly Brown - who has made 62 tackles this season and has yet to miss a single one - at blind-side flanker in place of Jackson Wray.

They have nine England internationals past and present in their starting XV, including the hard-charging Vunipola brothers and kicking machine Owen Farrell, while Chris Ashton will be looking to present his case for an international recall with a starring performance on the big stage he loves.

Saracens: Goode; Ashton, Bosch, Barritt, Strettle; Farrell, de Kock; M Vunipola, Brits, Johnston, Borthwick, Botha, Brown, Burger, B Vunipola.

Replacements: George, Barrington, Stevens, Hargreaves, Wray, Wigglesworth, Streather, Wyles.

Clermont Auvergne: Byrne; Sivivatu, Stanley, Fofana, Nalaga; James, Parra; Domingo, Kayser, Zirakashvili, Cudmore, Hines, Bonnaire, Chouly, Lee.

Replacements: Paulo, Debaty, Ric, Pierre, Vosloo, Lacrampe, Delany, Nakaitaci.

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra

Live commentary from Twickenham is about to start on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra. Harlequins and England lock Nick Kennedy is summarising.

Both teams have the sort of wheels out wide that would have Jeremy Clarkson drooling, and the stats show that Chris Ashton and Napolioni Nalaga are the two best finishers in the tournament.

Ashton is the top try scorer in the tournament this year with nine, while Nalaga is second with five, but it is the other Clermont winger who is, for me, the stand out player.

Former All Black Sitiveni Sivivatu is joint-top of the clean breaks with 14 (shared with Ashton) and also shares the lead in offloads with 18.

Like Ashton he likes to roam all over the field and if (or more likely when) Clermont slip into gear, he is likely to make a decisive contribution.

So who's going to win then - both today and overall? Can Sarries handle the all-round class of Clermont? Let me know on #bbcrugby or via text on 81111.

Clermont reached the semi-finals by topping Pool Four and then defeating Leicester 22-16 in the quarter-final at their Stade Marcel Michelin fortress - they're now unbeaten in nearly 80 matches there.

Saracens could only finish second to Toulouse in Pool Three but won away to Ulster - who were handicapped by having full-back Jared Payne sent off early in the match - in the last eight.

Image source, @Saracens

Saracens chief executive Ed Griffiths on BBC Radio 5 live: "I think we will be lucky to get 25,000 at Twickenham today, I think the figure will be closer to 20,000 which is obviously very disappointing for a semi-final.

"The problem is with the game there is only three weeks to sell it and you didn't know who was playing until three weeks ago.

"If today's game was played at Allianz Park, our home ground, it would be full with the capacity crowd and the kind of atmosphere that the occasion requires."

Image source, @Saracens

Saracens on Twitter:, external Great welcome for the Saracens team here at Twickenham.

So, after one of the most divisive political arguments since the United States decided it would rather not pay taxes to the Crown, let's focus on the rugby.

The semi-finals feature Saracens v Clermont Auvergne at Twickenham today while Munster travel to France to tackle Toulon - Jonny Wilkinson et al - on Sunday.

What a year of European club rugby. It's been brutal, hard fought and on occasion just downright nasty - and that's just in the boardroom.

The future may finally have been resolved with the news that from next season there will be a three-tier structure headed by the new European Rugby Champions Cup.

But there are still three more games to go in the last ever edition of the Heineken Cup, and the tournament looks set to end on a high with two French, one Irish and one English side still in contention to win the trophy for the final time.