European Champions Cup round-up: Bath reach quarter-finals
Bath secured a place in the European Champions Cup quarter-finals after their forwards built the platform for a tense 20-15 Recreation Ground victory over Glasgow.
Two second-half penalty tries underpinned a Bath win that meant they finished top of Pool Four, courtesy of four-time European champions Toulouse losing 27-26 against Montpellier.
It is the first time in European Cup history that a team has lost its first two group games - Bath were beaten by Glasgow and Toulouse - and still reached the last-eight.
But they were made to sweat and toil by a resilient Glasgow outfit, who stunned Bath with an early Alex Dunbar try and a brilliant Richie Vernon touchdown, while Finn Russell kicked a conversion and penalty.
George Ford booted two penalties and a conversion for Bath, with Ollie Devoto adding a conversion, ensuring that the hosts progressed after a nerve-shredding finale.
And Toulouse passed up the chance to pip Bath to top spot in Pool 4 as they squandered a 20-9 lead against Montpellier.
Montpellier started the better of the French sides as two penalties from Ben Lucas and one from Benoit Paillaugue put them 9-0 ahead just after the half-hour but Clement Poitrenaud's converted try narrowed the gap to two points before Toulouse claimed the lead for the first time thanks to Luke McAlister's penalty.
The fly-half added another three points shortly before the break while it appeared the visitors were well on their way to victory when Flood crossed the whitewash three minutes after the resumption.
But Dupont touched down twice in the space of five minutes soon after, first reducing arrears with a converted try in the 46th minute before his next score gave Montpellier a one-point lead.
Flood put Toulouse back in front with a penalty and did so again after Paillaugue had found the posts. But it would be the hosts who had the last laugh as Ben Lucas slotted home his third penalty in the 68th minute - and they held out for an unlikely victory.
Elsewhere, Clermont topped Pool 1 with an 18-6 win over Saracens to qualify for the next round.
Nick Abendanon and Vincent Debaty got their tries, although only one was converted, while Brock James and Camille Lopez hit penalties between the posts.
In response, Sarries could only manage two Charlie Hodgson penalties but they also progress into the quarter-finals.
And in Pool 1’s other game, Simon Zebo and Andrew Conway both crossed twice as Munster dominated their Champions Cup dead rubber against a young Sale outfit at Thomond Park.
Both sides were out of the running in Pool One, but the Irish province salvaged some pride with a runaway 65-10 bonus-point victory that included eight second-half tries.
An early Zebo effort launched Munster towards a 10-0 lead, before the stubborn Sharks rallied with a tremendous Tom Arscott score and just three points separated the sides at the break - 13-10.
However, after Keith Earls crowned his first start of the season with an excellent individual try and a penalty try was added, the floodgates were well and truly opened as Pat Howard, Zebo, Andrew Conway (two), Tommy O'Donnell and Duncan Williams all touched down between the 65th and 80th minutes.