Sale Sharks boss Kingsley Jones is happy for his team to be tagged as underdogs for the remainder of their Heineken Cup campaign.

The Sharks thrust themselves into quarter-final contention from a fiercely-competitive Pool Five by defeating Twickenham Stoop hosts Harlequins 29-19.

It leaves Sale just one point behind group leaders Toulouse ahead of next Sunday's return appointment with Quins at Edgeley Park.

"We achieved a terrific win in a wide-open pool," said Jones, following tries by Ben Cohen, Dwayne Peel, David Seymour and Nick Macleod.

"We are seen as underdogs, and I don't mind that one bit.

"'Struggling Sale' I keep hearing. Fine, but we also have a real chance of reaching the quarter-finals."

Quins, though, appear on their way out following a third successive defeat that sees them propping up the group with just one losing bonus point.

Leicester's 40-30 Pool Three defeat against Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel Michelin - the French club scored five tries - leaves them needing to beat the same opponents on home soil next Saturday night or face an uphill qualification task.

A late Tigers flurry amid the snow showers, with converted tries for fly-half Toby Flood, centre Anthony Allen and substitute Jeremy Staunton, could not disguise Clermont's dominance.

"Credit to Clermont for that first 50 or 60 minutes, they played fantastically well," said Flood, reflecting on a 35-9 deficit.

"But for us it is a big look at ourselves. We let it go during that first hour and we are really disappointed they got that far ahead of us.

"It is a very important game next weekend. Our pride has been dented, and it is important we bounce back."

Bath gave themselves a glimmer of hope that they could progress from Pool Four after tries from Pieter Dixon and Michael Stephenson helped subdue Edinburgh 16-9.

It was Bath's first Heineken win of the campaign, and head coach Steve Meehan said: "It gives us a chance, a sniff.

"It's great to be travelling to Edinburgh at the end of this week with an opportunity. Conditions being fine, you would expect another entertaining game."

Newport Gwent Dragons face a huge task at home to Biarritz next Friday night after they suffered a 49-13 defeat in south-west France and lost flanker Dan Lydiate and full-back Jason Tovey injured.

The Dragons are now nine points behind Biarritz in Pool Two, and head coach Paul Turner admitted: "It was very disappointing.

"We were up against a high-quality side, but we made a lot of errors and they punished us. We were second best, there is no doubt about that.

"We talked beforehand about not giving Biarritz any momentum, but that is exactly what we did. You can't concede nine penalties in the first 20 minutes, like we did."

England international Iain Balshaw scored two of Biarritz's six tries as the Dragons crashed to their heaviest Heineken defeat since 2003.