Bath coach John Connolly was left to rue a disastrous first-half performance as he watched his side get knocked out of Europe at Stade Marcel Michelin.

The Zurich Premiership front-runners crashed to a 38-22 defeat as Montferrand turned around a 14-point deficit after the first leg of the semi-final to sneak into the Parker Pen Challenge Cup final with a two-point overall advantage.

Bath were trailing 28-3 after the first half and Connolly said: "The damage was done in that first half. We played very poorly and you can't afford to do that at this level.

"We were just too loose across the board and it cost us. Having said that, I still thought we had a chance at half-time we just came up short."

Connolly sent on England veteran Mike Catt in the 50th minute and the midfield magician was a major part of Bath's second-half comeback.

But Connolly's injury-hit side had no answer to a rampant Montferrand side in the first half.

Their chances were not helped when tighthead prop Duncan Bell limped off after five minutes.

Montferrand took immediate advantage to take a 28-3 lead into the half-time break.

Two tries in the last eight minutes narrowed Montferrand's overall lead to two points, but it was too little, too late for Bath.

Montferrand full-back Anthony Floch opened the scoring with an early penalty goal, and when home skipper Tony Marsh bulldozed his way over the try-line in the 15th minute, Bath's 14-point first-leg advantage was looking very shaky.

It was virtually gone when Floch slotted a superb sideline conversion.

It took Bath 20 minutes to launch their first attack on the Montferrand tryline, and it ended in disaster.

A loose ball in the English club's midfield was toed ahead by scrum-half Pierre Mignoni, gathered by winger David Bory and passed back to Mignoni, who had a trouble-free 65-metre sprint to the Bath posts. Floch converted and the French club suddenly had a three-point advantage in the two-leg tie.

Bath fly-half Olly Barkley and Floch (two) traded penalty goals as the home side took a 23-3 lead past the half-hour mark, and Marsh put the result beyond doubt with a try in the opposite corner to his first effort.

The New Zealand-born French international went round Bath fullback Matt Perry and the television referee gave him the benefit of the doubt as he crashed over in the tackle of a desperate Barkley.

Floch's fourth penalty after 50 minutes resulted in Connolly ringing the changes, dragging off Barkley and Perry and sending on Catt.

It backfired as star French flanker Olivier Magne found room out wide to repeat his try-scoring efforts of the first leg and Montferrand were not going to be caught.

Home lock Thibaut Privat found himself in the sin-bin after tangling with karate black-belt Danny Grewcock, and Montferrand went down to 13 men when backrower Elvis Vermeulen was binned for a professional foul, and Bath No 8 Isaac Feaunati crashed over for a dubious try to narrow the margin to 38-10.

Burly Bath winger Simon Danielli went over in the corner, and that was followed by a similar effort from fellow winger Wylie Human, but the visitors ran out of time.

England centre Will Greenwood's try 12 minutes from time robbed Connacht of an historic Parker Pen Challenge Cup final place.

The Irish province claimed victory 23-18 but lost out agonisingly on aggregate by just four points, 49-45.

Man-of-the-match Eric Elwood scurried over in the 57th minute for Connacht's second try, which handed them a four-point lead in the tie.

But 52-times capped Greenwood was on hand to end a rare Quins forward drive with a try.