Daniel's double gives Bristol unexpected Heineken Cup hope

Montferrand 22 Bristol 3

Bristol's unlikely bid for Heineken Cup glory gathered pace yesterday when they completed a superb double over the French heavyweights of Montferrand.

Not content with their upset over one of the early Cup favourites in the second round, the Shoguns travelled to the snow-covered Parc des Sports Marcel-Michelin and bravely fought back from a 10-19 deficit at half-time.

Bristol must now beat Irish heavyweights of Leinster at the Memorial Ground next weekend and hope that will be enough to progress to the quarter-finals as one of the two best runners-up. Bristol's coach, Peter Thorburn, said: "We've got three tries in the bag but we still have to beat Leinster next week. The tries may not be enough but we'll give it all we can."

The winger Brendan Daniel was the visiting side's hero yesterday with a try in both halves, while their Argentinian fly-half, Felipe Contepomi, chipped in with 15 points in a superb display of goal-kicking.

The Shoguns stunned Montferrand in the third minute of the match when Daniel took advantage of a one-man overlap to score out wide, and Contepomi's conversion gave the visitors a 7-0 lead with many fans still coming through the gates.

It took Montferrand half an hour to get into the game, but eventually their big pack's superiority started to bring some reward. Montferrand drove into the Shoguns' 22, before fly-half Xavier Sadourny sent out a looping pass to Elvis Vermeulen, who had spotted an overlap on the wing. The big back-rower used his strength to score in the corner and full-back Sebastien Viars slotted a superb conversion to level the scores.

Just before the break, the home lock Lyanol Vaitanaki took advantage of his side's dominance up front and drove over the line after a series of forward phases. Viars added the extras and was back in the play almost from the kick-off. He made a great break up the middle before linking with the replacement lock Eric Lecomte, who galloped over for a try in the last play of the half.

Contepomi kept the visiting side in the match with penalty goals at regular intervals and Daniel cancelled out a Sadourny dropped goal with his second try in the 67th minute as the Shoguns took a shock lead.

Some nice build-up work from the scrum-half, Agustin Pichot, and the man-of-the-match, lock Alex Brown, led to a break by the former All Black centre Daryl Gibson, and he popped the ball to Daniel for the crucial score. Contepomi's sideline conversion gave his side a 23-22 lead.

Viars missed an injury-time penalty goal attempt, and the replacement full-back, Jamie Williams, confirmed the Shoguns' victory with an interception try as Montferrand threw everything at the visitors, but to no avail.

Montferrand: Tries E Vermeulen, L Vaitanaki, E Lecomte. Conversions S Viars 2. Drop Goals X Sadourny. Bristol: Tries B Daniel 2, J Williams. Conversions F Contepomi 3. Penalties F Contepomi 3.

Montferrand: S Viars; A Rougerie, R Chanal, J Marlu, D Bory; X Sadourny, D van Hoesslin; A Tolofua, A Castola (J-J Taofifenua, 61), D Ashvetia (B Siepielski, 48), T Jaques (E Lecomte, 5), L Vaitanaki, J Machacek, O Magne (capt), E Vermeulen (A Audebert, 64).

Bristol: L Best (J Williams, 64); D Rees, A Higgins, D Gibson, B Daniel (M Carrington, 76); F Contepomi, A Pichot; A Sheridan, P Johnstone (S Nelson, 64), J White, G Archer (capt), A Brown, M Salter, R Oakley, R Beattie.

Referee: I Ramage (Scotland).