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Clermont Auvergne will be determined to make sure they add the scalp of double Heineken Cup winners
Clermont Auvergne will be determined to make sure they add the scalp of double Heineken Cup winners, the Leicester Tigers, when the sides come face-to-face on Sunday afternoon
The French side, who reached the Heineken Cup quarter-finals in 2010, know they need a home win in the first of their mouth-watering back-to-back clashes between the sides.
The Tigers, though, after a difficult start to their domestic campaign in the English Premiership come into this clash on the back of an impressive four-match winning streak in all competitions.
Clermont, who are currently second in the Top 14, have stuttered in recent weeks but have won their last nine Heineken Cup games at home at the intimidating Stade Marcel Michelin.
The French side know they need a home win over a Tigers side to keep them in the mix for a quarter-finals place before the return trip to Welford Road the following week,
Leicester Tigers will be seeking to avenge last weekend's defeat in France when they host Clermont Auvergne at Welford Road in the return fixture of the Pool 4 double header on Saturday. - 15/12/2011 16:56
Clermont Auvergne ended Leicester Tigers’ unbeaten record in the Heineken Cup this season with a commanding victory in Pool 4.
Clermont recorded their 35th consecutive home victory in front of a partisan 18,000 crowd at the intimidating fortress Stade Marcel Michelin.
The Tigers dominated their hosts scrum in emphatic style and scrummaged Clermont off the park all afternoon but it wasn’t enough against a more physical and abrasive French unit around the field.
The Tigers scored the first try of the game totally against the run of play when Clermont’s fly-half Brock James had his grubber kick charged down while his side were on the attack.
Toby Flood’s fly-hack deep into the home side’s territory created confusion in the home side’s defence and saw scrum half Ben Youngs run in at the corner to give the visitors an improbable 5-3 lead.
Scrum-half Morgan Parra, who played fly-half for France during the World Cup, then calmed the home side’s nerves when he slotted over his second and third penalty to reclaim Clermont’s lead midway through the first half.
The home side then stretched their lead when burly wing Julien Malzieu barged his way through some weak tackling and crashed over from short-range to put the French side 16-5 ahead at half-time.
After the break, the Tigers were under extreme pressure and then lost two players to yellow cards, hooker George Chuter and centre Manu Tuilagi – on the 50th minute for dangerous play.
The former England hooker and the England new boy were both sin-binned for high tackles on Clermont’s Para and prop Vincent Debaty in the same attacking move and the Tigers never recovered.
Clermont took full-advantage of a 13-man Tigers and really turned the screw when impressive centre Wesley Fofana crossed for the French side’s second try midway through the second half.
The centre was a constant thorn in the Tigers side with his quick feet and physical presence and it wasn’t long before he made the hosts two-man advantage really tell midway through the second half.
Fofana rubbed salt into the wounds with his second try to add to the Tigers misery before the visitors were awarded a consolation penalty try after Clermont collapsed a scrum in the shadow of their own posts.
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