Former Wasp stars as Leicester hold off Clermont Auvergne challenge

Leicester moved a step closer to the knockout stages of the Heineken Champions Cup as 13 points from Charlie Atkinson proved crucial in a hard-fought 23-16 win over Clermont Auvergne.

The Tigers crossed the line twice through Jasper Wiese and Julian Montoya, with Atkinson converting both and adding three penalties.

Anthony Belleau kicked three penalties and a conversion for Clermont, with Sebastien Bezy scoring their only try late on.

Leicester’s victory added to last Sunday’s 23-17 triumph over Ospreys to give them eight points in Pool B, with a trip to Clermont and a home game against Ospreys to come.

The match did not begin well for Clermont, who suffered an early blow when captain Arthur Iturria was forced to leave the field with a leg injury. However, they overcame the setback to take a sixth-minute lead with a penalty from Belleau.

The French soon lost another forward to injury with lock Paul Jedrasiak failing an HIA, but they extended their lead with a second penalty from Belleau after Montoya was deemed to have late-tackled Bezy.

Leicester responded with the first try of the game. From a line-out 22 metres out, Wiese powered past some weak tackling for an excellent solo effort.

Atkinson converted from the touchline to leave the Tigers with a 7-6 lead at the end of an evenly-contested first quarter.

The hosts then took control and they were rewarded with a second try when Montoya finished off a driving line-out.

Clermont were now firmly under the cosh, conceding a number of penalties. When replacement Thibaud Lanen was yellow-carded for deliberate offside, Atkinson knocked over the resulting penalty for a 17-6 interval advantage to the Tigers.

Lanen returned from the sin-bin with no further damage done to the scoreboard and in time to see centre Cheikh Tiberghien make the best break of the game, but the French could not capitalise as they were penalised five metres out from the line.

Belleau and Atkinson then exchanged penalties but Clermont needed the next score to put pressure on their opponents.

Instead it was Leicester who added to their tally as Atkinson succeeded with his third penalty, before Bezy darted over in the final minute to secure his side a late consolation and a deserved bonus-point.