Bath should finish the job against Montauban at the Rec next weekend to book a place in the Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-finals despite a 27-24 defeat in France on Saturday night.

Montauban's abrasive style made sure Bath had anything but an easy ride in the Stade Sapiac and at half-time, with two tries apiece on the board, the French side was well in the match and looking anything but overawed by a Bath side packed with internationals.

Bath almost got a dream start in the first minute when Iain Balshaw chipped over the home defence in midfield and hacked on between the posts but the ball ran dead before he could touch down.

But Bath were in front after three minutes, Balshaw releasing Simon Danielli to touch down in the corner. Barkley failed to convert but Bath were on their way.

Vermis replied with a penalty to make it 5-3 in the eighth minute when Bath collapsed a scrum on their own 22 but Barkley kicked Bath into an 8-3 lead four minutes later from 38 metres out when Montauban held on to the ball in the tackle.

Montauban mustered a threat of the their own in the 14th minute when winger Beyret scampered through the middle but he knocked on as he tried to off-load the ball on the edge of Bath's 22.

Barkley eased Bath further in front with another penalty from around the 40-metre mark after Gratchev threw a punch at David Barnes as a scrum broke up but Vermis cut the visitors' lead back to 11-6.

The home side were back on level terms in the 25th minute when Montauban skipper Sergueev crashed over for an unconverted try in the corner to punish a handling error from Mike Tindall, who failed to hold a pass from Balshaw.

Tindall made up for his mistake on the half-hour, romping over from 30 metres out to finish a break by Matt Perry after Tindall's thumping tackle on Colome forced Montauban to turn the ball over on the half-way line. Barkley's conversion was inch-perfect to give Bath an 18-11 lead

Bath survived a sticky moment in the 36th minute when a knock-on from Montauban outside centre Vermis a yard short of the tryline spared them.

But the French side snatched a try on the stroke of half-time when prop Ben Bouhout put number eight Misse over in the right-hand corner. Vermis' conversion sent the sides in all-square at 18-18.

Montauban started the second half the way they finished the first - going forward to set Vermis up for a pot at goal from 30 metres out and he duly obliged to give Montauban the lead for the first time in the 47th minute.

Bath were back on terms seven minutes later when Barkley notched his third successful penalty kick of the night from 15 metres out after the Montauban pack were penalised for playing the ball off the ground.

The visitors' patience in retaining good quality possession paid off in the 65th minute when Barkley slotted over another close-range penalty to give Bath 24-21 lead.

But Montauban were not ready to concede anything and it took a superb tackle from Tindall to haul down full-back Bonduoy in full flight down the left and then the big home pack launched a massive drive in the right corner which ended with Bath being penalised for offside and Vermis kicked his fourth penalty of the night to level it up again at 24-24 with six minutes to go.

And it was Vermis who gave Montauban victory a minute into injury time when he stroked over a 40-metre penalty after Perry collected an up-and-under but held on to the ball after he was tackled.