Tigers battle back for victory

Leicester rescued their Heineken Cup campaign from the perils of possible pool stage elimination by staging a superb second-half fightback to beat French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne 23-19.

The Tigers, European champions in 2001 and 2002, appeared to have little chance of progressing from Pool Four when Clermont cruised into a nine-point interval lead at Welford Road.

But Leicester rapidly wiped out that deficit before Toby Flood's 62nd and 72nd-minute penalties secured the points and kept Tigers on course for an 11th quarter-final appearance in 15 seasons of Heineken Cup rugby.

Leinster delivered a performance worthy of champions as Bath's faint hopes of progressing from Pool Three were finally ended with a 52-27 defeat at a packed Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

London Irish gave themselves a mountain to climb if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals after Racing Metro bounced back from their loss in Paris last week with a 25-19 victory in Reading.

Ulster pressed home their ambitions with a 46-20 bonus-point victory over Aironi in Monza.

Brian McLaughlin's men scored six tries on their way to a well-merited win, which puts them in pole position at the top of Pool Four ahead of next month's crunch clashes at home against Leicester and away to Clermont Auvergne.

An excellent 75th-minute try from Jonny May kept alive Gloucester's faint hopes with a narrow 23-19 victory over Connacht.

Rory Lamont marked his return to Scottish rugby with Glasgow's only try in the heroic 13-13 draw against Montpellier in France which kept his side's slim hopes of a quarter-final place alive.