Clermont earn top seeding

Five first-half tries sealed the bonus-point and a return to Stade Marcel Michelin in the last eight, before Rob Baxter's men fought back to claim an unlikely try-scoring bonus-point. Benjamin Kayser and Noa Naikataci set the tone with scores in the first 10 minutes, before Wesley Fofana, Nick Abendanon and a penalty try earned a 34-0 lead at the break.

James Short pulled a try back before Peceli Yato and Alexandre Lapandry crossed, but scores from Ollie Devoto, Ollie Woodburn and Michele Campagnaro underlined Exeter's never-say-die attitude. Clermont knew a bonus-point victory would guarantee top seeding for the quarterfinals, and they got off to the perfect start.

Morgan Parra found the corner with a kick from the base of a ruck to put the pressure on the Chiefs.

Jack Yeandle overthrew the line-out into the grateful hands of Kayser, who crashed over to score on his 80th appearance in Europe's premier competition.

Parra converted to make it 7-0 after four minutes, and they did not have to wait long for a second score.

Yato put Clermont on the front-foot before the ball was worked wide to Remy Lamerat. The centre delivered a perfectly weighted pass to Noa Nakaitaci, who sprinted down the right wing to score.

Parra added a penalty to make it 15-0 before Ollie Woodburn gifted Clermont a third try after 23 minutes.

The Exeter wing chased Abendanon back before slapping a pass meant for Fofana into touch to deny a try. But referee Andrew Brace awarded a penalty try that was converted by Parra after consulting with the TMO, and sent Woodburn for 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

Devoto followed short after for a high-shot on Abendanon, and Fofana exploited the fractured defence to score the bonus-point try after half an hour. Abendanon then crashed over for his fifth Champions Cup try in as many matches to put the hosts 34-0 ahead at half-time.

Devoto broke clean through in the first minute of the second-half before Jack Maunder sent Short over for a converted try. But Yato peeled off a line-out moments later and charged through a gap to restore their 34 point lead, and Lapandry went over on the 50 minute mark to put Clermont 48-7 ahead.

Exeter then staged a comeback to earn a try-scoring bonus-point of their own. First Devoto strolled over after an offload from Woodburn, before he turned scorer for the second. Campagnaro then sprinted down the right wing to grab a try-scoring bonus-point, but it was too little, too late.

The scorers:

For Clermont:

Tries: Kayser, Nakaitaci, Penalty try, Fofana, Abendanon, Yato, Lapandry

Cons: Parra 5

Pen: Parra

For Exeter Chiefs:

Tries: Short, Devoto, Woodburn, Campagnaro

Cons: Steenson 2, Simmonds

Yellow cards: Olly Woodburn (Exeter Chiefs, 28 – cynical foul, slapping the ball into touch), Ollie Devoto (Exeter Chiefs, 31 – foul play, high tackle)

Teams

Clermont: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Noa Nakaitaci, 13 Rémi Lamerat, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Nick Abendanon, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Morgan Parra (captain), 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Alexandre Lapandry, 6 Peceli Yato, 5 Sébastien Vahaamahina, 4 Arthur Iturria, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Raphael Chaume.

Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Davit Zirakashvili, 19 Paul Jedrasiak, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Ludovic Radoslavjevic, 22 Aurélien Rougerie, 23 Alivereti Raka.

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Michele Campagnaro, 12 Ollie Devoto, 11 James Short, 10 Gareth Steenson (captain), 9 Jack Maunder, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Kai Horstmann, 6 Don Armand, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ollie Atkins, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle, 1 Ben Moon.

Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Moray Low, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Damian Welch, 20 Tom Johnson, 21 Stuart Townsend, 22 Ian Whitten, 23 Joe Simmonds.

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Dudley Phillips (Ireland), Kieran Barry (Ireland)

TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Source: @ChampionsCup