With an incredible 33-26 win in France, ASM Clermont Auvergne held off a 14-man Bristol Bears comeback to put themselves in a good position to qualify for the Investec Champions Cup knockouts.
After Harry Byrne was sent to the bin for Bristol Bears, ASM Clermont Auvergne whipped it wide for Alex Newsome to open the scoring in France.
Clermont got their second on the stroke of halftime, with Alivereti Raka diving over in the corner and Anthony Belleau converting to make it 12-0 to the French at the break.
The scores were level at 26-26 as the clock went into the red after Alex Newsome's first-half try and a double from Alivereti Raka, while Bears kept hitting back with four second-half scores through James Dun, Noah Heward, Keiran Marmion.
But with a man extra after Bears saw a man go to the bin, Clermont capitalised and Thomas Ceyte powered over in the 85th minute to win it.
Scorers:
ASM Clermont Auvergne: Tries: Alex Newsome, Alivereti Raka, Alivereti Raka, Thomas Ceyte, Penalty Try. Conversions: Anthony Belleau, Ben Urdapilleta.
Bristol Bears: Tries: Penalty Try, James Dun, Noah Heward, Kieran Marmion. Conversions: Harry Byrne.
Teams
ASM Clermont Auvergne: 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Mathys Belaubre, 12 Irae Simone, 11 Alivereti Raka, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Baptiste Jauneau, 8 Fritz Lee (c), 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Killian Tixeront, 5 Peceli Yato, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Michael Ala’alatoa, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Sacha Lotrian. Replacements: 16 Barnabe Massa, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Cristian Ojovan, 19 Thomas Ceyte, 20 Alexandre Fischer, 21 Sebastien Bezy, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Lucas Tauzin.
Bristol Bears: 15 Rich Lane, 14 Noah Heward, 13 Joe Jenkins, 12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11 Deago Bailey, 10 Harry Byrne, 9 Harry Randal; 8 Fitz Harding (c), 7 Santiago Grondona, 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Joe Owen, 4 James Dun, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Ellis Genge. Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Yann Thomas, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Steele Barker, 20 Viliame Mata, 21 Kieran Marmion), 22 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 23 Benjamin Elizalde.