Reigning Heineken Cup champions Leinster had to wait until the final minute of their home tie with Brive yesterday before securing the bonus point and a 27-10 victory.
It was a frustrating afternoon for the Irish side, with Brive keeping Leinster from the tryline for the first 26 minutes of the encounter.
Leinster’s opening try, a penalty, was converted by flyhalf Jonathan Sexton and the score remained 7-0 until after the break when the action upped a gear. Tries by Isa Nacewa and Gordon D’Arcy split Brive’s replies by Retief Uys and Scott Spedding, but Sexton’s kicking extended Leinster’s advantage. At 22-10 Brive were out of it, but Brian O’Driscoll ensured the bonus point at the death with a try.
In France, Clermont scored a decisive victory over Ospreys in Pool Three.
A mercurial performance from fly-half Brock James, who missed three shots at goal despite scoring 17 points, saw the French side home 27-7.
Advertisement
After Leicester’s crushing victory over Viadana, also in Pool Three, the Tigers must beat Ospreys next weekend and hope that Clermont do not get a try bonus point in Italy to ensure qualification to the knockout stage.
Elsewhere, an injury-hit Stade Français were forced to field Scotland fullback Hugo Southwell at scrumhalf in their Pool Four clash with Bath in Paris. Two first-half tries from Julien Arias were enough to see Stade edge out their visitors 15-13, while Munster stretched their lead at the top of Pool One with a 44-7 win in Treviso.
It was a good afternoon for English teams in the Amlin Challenge Cup, with both Leeds and Worcester easing to landslide victories.
Leeds, rooted to the bottom of the Guinness Premiership, routed Rugby Parma 38-16 to reclaim the lead in Pool One from rivals Bourgoin. Leeds top the section on try count, and yesterday’s result sets up a winner-takes-all clash at Headingley on Sunday.
Worcester, who were without a win in seven matches and were out of contention in Pool Two, put their woes behind them with an eight-try romp to beat Olympus Madrid 54-3.