Clermont Auvergne overcame a ferocious Ospreys fightback to retain their proud European home record with a bonus-point 34-29 win in Pool Two of the Champions Cup.

France 41 Canada 18: Another comfortable margin on the scoreboard for France, but doubts hang over Philippe Saint-Andre’s side ahead of their final Pool D encounter with Ireland on Sunday week after a workmanlike defeat of Canada in stadium:mk last night.

It may be that France are unpredictable in most things, but there were few surprises yesterday when coach Philippe Saint-Andre made 12 changes to his side for tomorrow’s Pool D tie against Canada at Milton Keynes.

France 38 Romania 11: If Ireland had allowed any complacency to creep into their minds ahead of Sunday’s clash with Romania then this will have surely eradicated it.

Toulon made rugby union history at Twickenham as they clinched a hat-trick of European titles by defeating fellow French heavyweights Clermont Auvergne 24-18 in the Champions Cup final.

France star Wesley Fofana scored the game’s solitary try just after half-time as French heavyweights Clermont prevailed 13-9 against Saracens to reach their second European final in three seasons.

Clermont Auvergne 27 Northampton Saints 5: Nick Abendanon hopes his stellar evening against Northampton has offered England additional reason to soften their stance on selecting overseas-based players.

After France’s rather unimpressive, tryless win over Scotland, Philippe Saint-Andre was at pains to claim there is still flair in the team — but that concept is dead and buried, writes Ronan O’Gara.

France 15 Scotland 8: They put a brave face on it but it was evident from the shrugs and pouts that a hard-fought tryless 15-8 victory over a feisty Scotland in Paris was not quite enough for the French. 

RBS Six Nations: France v Scotland: The start of a new Six Nations campaign is usually destined to throw Frenchmen of every age, shape and political persuasion into a tizzy. As former captain Fabien Pelous once said: "It is like the start of a new romance. You see a girl across the room, your eyes meet and you both know that everything is possible."

Fulham 1 Sunderland 3

Sunderland 0 Fulham 0: FA Cup Fourth Round: It’s not just dour stalemates that have become an all-too regular feature of Sunderland’s Groundhog Day season.

Clermont Auvergne produced a powerhouse performance at Thomond Park to beat Munster 16-9 and take over at the top of the European Rugby Champions Cup’s Pool One.

AUTUMN INTERNATIONAL:

Saracens 30 Clermont Auvergne 23

Wingers Chris Ashton and David Strettle propelled Saracens to a 30-23 bonus point victory over Clermont in their Champions Cup grudge match at Allianz Park.

Manchester City are considering their next move in the wake of the racism row which blew up out of their elite development squad’s friendly in Croatia.

Croatian club HNK Rijeka have strenuously denied any of their players racially abused Manchester City’s Seko Fofana in a friendly.

Manchester City youth team coach Patrick Vieira has been praised for taking his players off the pitch after an alleged racist incident in a pre-season friendly.

A friendly match between Manchester City’s elite development under-21 team and Croatian side HNK Rijeka has been cancelled after one of City’s players was allegedly racially abused by an opposition player.

A suspected jewellery thief left his phone with a screensaver picture of himself at the scene of a crime in England, police said.

Clermont 22 Leicester 16

France 30 Italy 10

France 30 Italy 10

France 26 England 24

France 26 England 24

Clermont Auvergne 28 Racing Metro 3

Clermont Auvergne 23 Harlequins 13

Three key areas where Munster must impose themselves this evening

Munster are a team who have often faced — and overcome — huge hurdles in the Heineken Cup. Tomorrow, in the south of France, they face another of those seemingly impossible challenges.

HEINEKEN CUP SEMI-FINAL

France 23 Scotland 16

England 23 France 23

England 23 France 13

Lyon 1 Tottenham 1Tottenham win 3-2 on agg

Europa League last 32: Tottenham 2 Lyon 1

Leinster 21 Clermont Auvergne 28

The cold hard light of day.

France 33 Australia 6

Heady days for Leinster. Less than 24 hours after their Heineken Cup semi-final heroics in France the European champions announced that 18 players had inked new deals with the province.

IRELAND’s love-affair with the Heineken Cup is about to reach into the stratosphere, with a first ever all-Ireland final at the headquarters of English rugby in three weeks.

Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt was a relieved man after watching his side survive a late Clermont Auvergne barrage to win 19-15 and reach their third Heineken Cup final in four years.

Clermont Auvergne 15 Leinster 19

As Ulster adapt to being favourites for a Heineken Cup semi-final, champions Leinster face the sternest test in the defence of their title and an all-Irish final hangs in the balance.