Leinster were beaten 20-13 by Clermont Auvergne on the weekend but managed to salvage a losing bonus point ahead of their return Heineken Cup meeting in Dublin. The Irish side remain top of Pool two.
Wing Shane Horgan scored early on for the visitors before Julien Malzieu crossed for a try that was converted by Morgan Parra. Penalties followed, with the halftime scored locked t 10-10 after a tense first forty.
A second Clermont try was scored by Anthony Floch. Jonathan Sexton and Parra then exchanged penalties, but Leinster couldnt get close enough to take the win. Coach Joe Schmidt has said that his side were absolutely gutted at the result, but they did okay.
"I'm proud of them. Sometimes you don't get what you set out to try to achieve and it is frustrating but you can keep your head up when you try to your maximum. They deserved it.
"We feel we didn't quite get the rub of the green - a few things didn't quite go our way.
"We do, at the same time, take our hats off to Clermont. You know once they get momentum - and they got two very good tries - that they will be hard to stop."
The two sides meet again this coming weekend at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Elsewhere,
Paul OConnell
has been handed a
four week suspension
after he lashed out at Jonathan Thomas in Munsters game against Ospreys this past weekend.
They have the right to appeal, but team manager Shaun Payne has said they will wait for the written statement before assessing the situation further.
Time:
05:50
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