AFP - Relegation-haunted Brive shocked French champions Clermont 29-22 on Friday to record their first Top 14 win in almost three months.
Brive, with just three wins all season before the game, were ahead 16-3 at the interval thanks to a helping hand from Clermont's Australian fly-half Brock James.
After missing an early penalty, James had an attempted clearance charged down, tight on his own line, by Brive centre Regis Lespinas who gathered the ball to score a 15th-minute try.
That was converted by Mathieu Belie to add to Julien Caminati's fourth minute penalty.
James missed another penalty before the Australian finally found the target to cut Brive's advantage to 10-3.
Belie and Caminati then added another penalty apiece before the break.
Brive grabbed their second try in the first minute of the second period when Fabrice Estabanez sprinted away between a line of Clermont defenders left flat-footed by a smart, reverse pass from Lespinas.
Belie's conversion made it 23-8 before Clermont hit back with two tries in 10 minutes.
First, replacement scrum-half Morgan Parra showed quick-thinking by launching a tap penalty crossfield into the grateful arms of waiting centre Julien Malzieu.
Then it was Estabanez's turn to suffer a charge down when his clearance from behind his own line was gobbled up by Clermont No 8 Elvis Vermeulen.
James was successful with a simple conversion but Caminati then hit a 63rd-minute penalty to open a 26-15 lead for Brive.
Back came Clermont with a third try in the 66th minute when a James grubber kick left Brive's Ronnie Cooke and Clermont's Gavin Williams tussling for the ball which evaded both men only for South African centre Marius Joubert to claim the try.
James converted to reduce the gap to four points but Caminati had the last say with another penalty to secure a crucial 29-22 win.
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