Leicester book Round of 16 place with win at Clermont

The visitors secured the bonus point through tries from Matt Scott (2), Harry Simmons, Dan Kelly and James Cronin at the Stade Marcel-Michelin. 14 points from the boot of Handré Pollard also proved vital.

Clermont were no pushovers, and showcased their quality with scores from Bautista Delguy, Etienne Fourcade, Paul Jedrasiak and Anthony Belleau.

Clermont made a disastrous start to the game and handed Leicester an early try as fly-half Anthony Belleau floated pass into the midfield which centre Scott picked off to race in under the posts from halfway.

Fly-half Pollard was off target with a penalty shortly after, but eventually punished Clermont for another error as he slotted from the tee on 20 minutes.

However, Clermont sprung into life moments later as centre Irae Simone scooped up brilliantly before beating a defender and offloading to wing Delguy, who darted over in the corner.

Leicester found a response on 29 minutes as wing Simmons produced some electric footwork to weave through the Clermont defence and finish superbly, and there was a further setback for the home side when No.8 Fritz Lee was sin-binned for a high shot on scrum-half Ben Youngs.

Centre Kelly then twisted to dot down on 33 minutes as Leicester looked set to punish Clermont with an extra man on the field, but the TOP 14 outfit kept themselves in the contest as a move started by wing Alivereti Raka – who was a threat all night – was eventually finished off by replacement hooker Fourcade.

Leicester were 13 points clear at the break, though, as Pollard, who had converted all three scores, dispatched a penalty from near halfway in the final act of the first 40 minutes.

The tries continued to flow early in the second half as Belleau pounced on a loose ball to reduce the deficit seconds after the restart before a brilliant set piece move from Leicester put Scott over under the posts again.

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But Clermont refused to roll over and notched a fourth try courtesy of another flowing move, lock Jedrasiak throwing an outrageous dummy to provide the finish.

The scoring slowed over the remainder of the half as Clermont pushed for a fifth score but were met with firm Leicester resistance.

A Belleau penalty on 70 minutes set up a tense finale as Clermont moved to within five points, but replacement fly-half Jimmy Gopperth extended Leicester’s advantage with kick of his own before prop Cronin powered over in the dying seconds to cap their victory.

The two sides’ Pool B campaigns are wrapped up next weekend, with Leicester hosting Ospreys on Friday and Clermont facing DHL Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday.