Ospreys came out fighting in the second half to beat Section Paloise 31-28 for a home Top 16 knockout match in the EPCR Challenge Cup.
Capitalising on some early pressure, Theo Attissogbe showed great strength to power over for Section Paloise, with the competition's top points scorer so far Axel Desperes adding the extras.
Ryan Conbeer responded for Ospreys moments later with some quick hands putting him in out wide, having come back into the team this week, before Dan Edwards converted to level it at 7-7.
Fabien Brau-Boirie took a great crash line under the posts to put the hosts ahead once more, with Desperes converting again to make it 14-7 to Pau at the break.
Having gone into the break 14-7 down, Ospreys raced out the blocks in the second half in a ding-dong battle against Section Paloise as they secured second place in Pool 2 for a home Round of 16 tie.
It was a perfect start to the second 40 for the Ospreys as they capitalised on a yellow card for Section Paloise to get over in the corner through Evardi Boshoff to add to Ryan Conbeer's first-half score.
Minutes later, Jac Morgan bundled over from short range to put Ospreys ahead in a tight game.
But Section Paloise responded, earning a penalty try after consecutive scrum penalties from Ospreys, before Eliott Roudil finished some hot hands in the corner to go 28-19 ahead.
Again the back-and-forth continued, with Dan Edwards taking a short line to crash over and narrow the gap back to four points.
Then shortly after they crossed the whitewash again, with a line break and some great offloading putting away Luke Davies as Ospreys edged ahead once more and saw out a thrilling 31-28 win and leapfrogged their French counterparts into the home knockout spot in Pool 2.
Scorers:
Section Paloise: Tries: Theo Attissogbe, Fabien Brau-Boirie, Penalty Try, Eliott Roudil. Conversions: Axel Desperes (3).
Ospreys: Tries: Ryan Conbeer, Evardi Boshoff, Jac Morgan, Dan Edwards, Luke Davies. Conversions: Dan Edwards.
Teams
Section Paloise: 15 Clément Mondinat, 14 Theo Attissogbe, 13 Eliott Roudil (c), 12 Fabien Brau-Boirie, 11 Gregoire Arfeuil, 10 Axel Desperes, 9 Thomas Souverbie, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Thibaut Hamonou, 6 Joel Kpoku, 5 Remi Picquette, 4 Lekima Tagitagivalu, 3 Guram Papidze, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Ignacio Calles. Replacements: 16 Youri Delhommel, 17 Daniel Bibi Biziwu, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Brent Liufau, 20 Dan Jooste, 21 Aaron Grandidier Nkanang, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Emilien Gailleton.
Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morse, 7 Jac Morgan (c), 6 James Ratti, 5 James Fender, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Lewis Lloyd, 1 Steff Thomas. Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Garyn Phillips, 18 Ben Warren, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Tristan Davies, 21 Luke Davies, 22 Tom Florence, 23 Jack Walsh.