According to you who was the best European player of the season?
Imanol Harinordoquy (43%)
William Servat (21%)
Other (12%)
Ronan O'Gara(8%)
Brian O'Driscoll (8%)
Vincent Clerc (5%)
Damien Traille (3%)
Leicester Tigers kept their Heineken Cup hopes alive with a hard-fought win over Clermont Auvergne on Saturday night.
A record crowd of 21, 286 for a European match at Welford Road saw last season's beaten finalists make amends for their defeat to the same opposition in central France on Sunday afternoon.
Tries from centre Anthony Allen and full back Scott Hamilton, together with 10 points from the boot of fly-half Toby Flood gave Leicester a 20-15 win that sees them move level on points with Clermont in second place in Pool 3.
Allen's score three-quarters of the way through the first half saw Leicester open up a 13-6 lead and came as a direct result of a piece of individual brilliance from scrum-half Ben Youngs.
Youngs broke clear following a lineout just inside the Leicester half to create something from nothing and reward Tigers for an opening half hour in which they enjoyed the lion's share of possession.
The 20-year-old showed a stunning turn of pace to burst through an otherwise impressive Clermont defence before turning opposition skipper Aurelien Rougerie inside out as he raced towards the line.
Rougerie appeared to have recovered sufficiently to make a try-saving tackle five metres out but Youngs popped the ball off to Allen who dived over just to the left of the posts.
But if the Welford Road faithful hoped that the eventual breakthrough would cause the visitors to lose faith, they were left disappointed.
Clermont stuck with the task at hand, frustrating Leicester's attempt to push on and clawing their way back to within a point by the 65-minute mark as Brock James added a third drop goal to a first-half penalty in bitterly cold conditions in the East Midlands.
And with Tigers growing nervous knowing Clermont were within a single shot at goal from victory, it was left to a piece of good fortune to swing the game back in their favour.
Clermont failed to gather a misjudged up and under from Flood and suddenly Leicester were in command once more.
Hamilton was first to react to the loose ball and the New Zealander raced home from 40 metres, beating Anthony Floch to the line to dive over in the right-hand corner.
Flood's superb conversion moved Leicester eight points clear at 20-12 with just four minutes left to play and it seemed as though Clermont would leave with nothing to show for their efforts.
But a third Brock penalty brought them back to within seven and secured what could yet prove to be a crucial point in terms of qualification for the knockout stages.
And while Leicester will have been pleased with a pride-restoring victory, Clermont's decision to kick the ball into touch to bring the game to an end when they had possession in Leicester territory suggests that they too were happy to leave England with a losing bonus point to their name.
