Chiefs serve up famous win
Clermont looked to be ready to repeat the 46-12 hammering they dished out the last time the two sides met at Sandy Park in 2012 when they raced into a 14-3 lead after just 20 minutes.
But a try in each half from Thomas Waldrom and two late scores from Don Armand and Mitch Lees completed a famous comeback (a 31-14 win) to blow the race for qualification from Pool Two wide open.
The Chiefs thought they had scored inside five minutes when they rumbled over from a driving maul but the referee and TMO decided they could not see if the ball had been grounded.
Clermont capitalised on the set back and hit the home side with two quick tries through Joe Gear and Aurelien Rougerie, with Morgan Parra adding the conversions to both scores.
But Exeter hit back with Waldrom's first try to and a conversion and earlier penalty from Gareth Steenson brought the home side to within four points at half-time.
Chiefs went down to 14 men with 15 minutes left on the clock when Phil Dollman was sent to the bin for killing the ball at a ruck but five minutes later Clermont's Peceli Yato joined him for a swinging arm on Will Chudley.
In the final quarter the home side peppered the Clermont line and finally got a breakthrough seven minutes from time when Don Armand powered over after more excellent work from the Chiefs pack.
Baxter's side then wrapped up a famous win with a fourth try in the final minute of the match when Mitch Lees charged under the posts to secure the bonus-point.
The scorers:
For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Waldrom 2, Armand, Lees
Cons: Steenson 4
Pen: Steenson
For Clermont Auvergne:
Tries: Rougerie, Gear
Cons: Parra 2
Yellow cards: Phil Dollman (Exeter Chief), Peceli Yato (Clermont Auvergne)
Teams:
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Sam Hill, 11 James Short, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Don Armand, 5 Damian Welch, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle (captain), 1 Ben Moon.
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Carl Rimmer, 18 Moray Low, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Tom Johnson, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Will Hooley, 23 Olly Woodburn.
Clermont Auvergne: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 David Strettle, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Hosea Gear, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Damien Chouly, 7 Vito Kolelishvili, 6 Peceli Yato, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Paul Jedrasiak, 3 Clément Ric, 2 John Ulugia, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Marthinus Van Der Westhuizen, 17 Raphael Chaume, 18 Daniel Kotze, 19 Flip Van Der Merwe, 20 Judicaël Cancoriet, 21 Ludovic Radoslavjevic, 22 Pato Fernandez, 23 Albert Vulivuli.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Gary Conway (Ireland), Nigel Correll (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Source: @ChampionsCup
