Handre Pollard produced a solid performance off the kicking tee as Leicester Tigers became the first team to reach the Champions Cup last 16 on Friday with a bonus-point win at Clermont.
In a thrilling tie, two-time European champions Leicester edged the try count 5-4 in France and collected a bonus point.
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Matt Scott, Harry Simmons and Dan Kelly all scored first-half tries for the Tigers. Scott and then James Cronin, in the last minute, added further scores after the break.
Springbok flyhalf Pollard kicked 14 points on his first start for Leicester in the tournament.
“We are obviously proud of our victory tonight against a massive team like Clermont and in an absolutely incredible atmosphere,” said Leicester scrumhalf and skipper Ben Youngs.
“It’s a big performance to score 44 points here, but in the second half we suffered a lot more.”
Bautista Delguy, Etienne Fourcade, Anthony Belleau and Paul Jedrasiak grabbed tries for Clermont. The French team was undone by indiscipline, conceding three times the number penalties awarded against Leicester.
“It’s really very difficult to accept conceding 44 points at home, there is a bit of shame in that,” said Clermont coach Jono Gibbes. “Their ability to score points too easily against us was very disappointing, especially in front of our home crowd.”
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— Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) January 13, 2023
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