French side Clermont and last season's semi-finalists Cardiff stayed in the hunt for places in the last eight of the European Cup on Saturday with deserved victories.

Clermont outclassed previous Pool Three leaders Ospreys 27-7 in France to put them second behind new leaders Leicester, who trounced Italian side Viadana 47-8.

Clermont need to beat Viadana next weekend with an offensive bonus point to give them a chance of topping the table.

Cardiff humbled English side Sale 36-19 with two quickfire tries early in the second-half from Richie Rees and Bradley Davies settling the outcome.

The result helps Pool Five leaders Toulouse, who can qualify if they beat Harlequins in Toulouse on Sunday and claim a bonus point.

Their French Top 14 rivals Biarritz did qualify on Saturday as Pool Two winners despite losing to Gloucester.

Clermont went behind early on as Irish Grand Slam winning winger Tommy Bowe finished off a delightful backline move for his sixth try of the campaign keeping him top of the tryscorers list.

However, from then on it was all Clermont and but for Australian fly-half Brock James missing several kicks at goal they would have been out of sight by the time Wales prop Adam Jones was yellow carded with 10 minutes remaining.

The French side had scored a try prior to that as Aurelien Rougerie collected the ball from a James up and under and passed to Julien Malzieu who raced into the corner to touch down.

The Ospreys tried to reduce the deficit but instead conceded a second try shortly before the final whistle as Napolioni Nalaga profited from a misunderstanding between two of the Welsh side's players and cantered in to score the try which James converted.

Defending champions Leinster needed a last-minute try from Brian O'Driscoll to secure a bonus point 27-10 win over Brive and move five points clear of London Irish in Pool 6.

London Irish are away to the Scarlets on Sunday before hosting Leinster in a likely pool decider at Twickenham next weekend.

Isa Nacewa and Gordon D'Arcy were Leinster's other try scorers, while Brive crossed twice through Retief Uys and Scott Spedding.

Stade Francais beat English side Bath 15-13 to remain top of Pool Four and move to within a point of a place in the last eight.

Stade are four points clear of Ulster with one match remaining but still face a relatively tricky trip away to Edinburgh next weekend.

Ulster, too, must travel to Bath and should they win and Stade lose without either side gaining a bonus point to both finish on 17 points it would be the French side who top the table based on their head-to-head results.

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