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.
However, despite giving Cardiff a chance of progressing, the result most benefited 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 - shortly after having a try disallowed - 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 the normally reliable Australian fly-half Brock James missing several kicks at goal - no less than three hit the posts - 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.
Clermont coach Vern Cotter was full of praise for his side's opponents.
"I have rarely seen a team (Ospreys) as well prepared as that, they came with a very precise plan, but I appreciated the reaction of my team after the Welsh try."
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 - who have had a disappointing season domestically - 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 - Ulster having won the first meeting 23-13, with Stade victorious in the second 29-16.
Stade had looked to be cruising near the end of the first half after two Jimmy Arias tries put them 15-3 to the good.
However, immediately after Arias's second touchdown, Lionel Beauxis's attempt at a volleyed clearance from Hugo Southwell's pass ended up being an airkick.
The ball went over the Stade try line and Bath's South African scrum-half Michael Claassens was on hand to beat the France fly-half - who was playing at fullback - to the ball and claim a try, which was duly converted.
Bath narrowed the deficit further two minutes into the second half when Fijian fly-half Nicky Little landed a penalty to make it 15-13 and neither side were able to add to their respective totals on a bog-like pitch in a match played in the pouring rain.
"We made the match a lot more complicated than we should have done," bemoaned Stade co-coach Didier Faugeron.
"We had the match in our hands and we allowed our adversaries to get back into it, at a point where I think they were about to put their hands up in surrender."
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
