Newcastle were knocked out of the European Challenge Cup at Parc des Sports Marcel-Michelin on Friday evening when Clermont Auvergne held on for victory in a quarter-final that went all the way thanks to a stirring Falcons comeback.

The French club will now have home advantage in the semi-finals in three weeks' time against the winners of tomorrow's quarter-final between Newport Gwent Dragons and Brive.

Falcons had looked dead and buried at 15-6 at the break after the French club, riding high in second place in the Top 14, had drawn first blood in real style.

The forwards did the spadework with some powerful driving play and the backs cashed in as slick handling allied to some decoy runners tore the Falcons defence to shreds with wing Julien Malzieu touching down wide out for an eighth-minute try.

Brock James added the touchline conversion before the Falcons responded with a beautifully-struck long-range Jonny Wilkinson penalty goal.

That was promptly cancelled out by a Brock penalty goal before a Falcons error cost them dearly as full back Anthony Floch crossed for a second well-constructed Clermont try to give them a 12-point lead after just 24 minutes.

Mathew Tait and Matt Burke tried to lift the Falcons with a flowing attack but the Clermont defence held firm and Newcastle had to be content with another Wilkinson penalty to stay in touch after being comfortably outplayed in the first half.

The Falcons' lack of possession continued after the break as Brock and Wilkinson exchanged penalties, the Falcons displaying tremendous determination as they took the game to the home side when they had a chance.

Clermont, the 1999 Challenge Cup winners, defended strongly and when Toby Flood made a searing break that for once caught them napping he ran out of support and the chance was lost.

But they kept plugging away and quick ball and some finger-tip passing from Wilkinson and Burke created the opening for Jamie Noon to finish it off, Wilkinson converting to reward Falcons' lengthy period of pressure.

However, a missed Falcons touch kick ended up costing them another three points through a third James penalty, Wilkinson again at the heart of the best attacking threats coming from the Falcons.

His clever off-load came to nothing and they briefly fell two scores behind through another James penalty only for Wilkinson to reply in kind and keep the game well and truly alive.

With man-of-the-match James having an outstanding game and keeping the Falcons pegged back with the clock running down, Newcastle finally ran out of time and were out of Europe.