Pontypridd maintained their 14-point advantage from the first leg, despite a furious Tykes opening at Headingley that threatened to turn the tie their way.

The valleys side's 37-23 first-leg win proved enough to see them through to the quarter-finals where they will meet the winners of the Narbonne-Connacht game.

Leeds led 13-0 at one stage, but three Brett Davey penalties hauled Ponty back to 16-9 at the interval.

Former Springbok Braam van Straaten booted 14 points for the Tykes and scrum-half Alan Dickens got a first-half try, but it was Davey's 19 points, including a 74th-minute try that sealed Leeds' fate.

Match details:

Leeds Try: A Dickens Con: B van Straaten Pens: van Straaten (4) Pontypridd Try: B Davey Con: Davey Pens: Davey (4)

Van Straaten made the initial inroads into Ponty's lead with two quick-fire penalties, the second of which sailed between the uprights from some 55 metres out.

Dickens' converted try then took the Tykes to within a single point, with the slippery number nine breaking from a scrum near the visitors' 22 and shrugging off several Pontypridd tacklers before crossing.

Indiscipline creeped into the Tykes' game, allowing Davey to peg the home side back.

A bullocking run from Gavin Kerr nearly saw Leeds add to their lead in the 45th minute but he was held up over the line after barging his way through several Pontypridd tacklers.

Ponty celebrate a job well done

Van Straaten slotted his fourth penalty, but his side's hopes were dealt a blow when Matt Holt was sin-binned for an infringement at the scrum.

Pontypridd had not looked like breaching the Tykes' line all afternoon, but Davey gathered up his own kick after an error from Ross and stormed in for the decisive blow.

Davey added the conversion himself to level the score. Visiting flanker Richard Parks was shown a yellow card in the dying moments, but his absence made little difference as Pontypridd held out for the draw.

Welsh rugby tends to place more emphasis on scrummaging Lynn Howells

Tight power

Pontypridd coach Lynn Howells said: "I wasn't very pleased with our display in the first half hour but you can see why they're third in the Zurich Premiership.

"We showed a lot of character and scrummaged very well - Welsh rugby tends to place more emphasis on scrummaging and that proved to be the case today."

Leeds Director of Rugby Phil Davies said: "If we'd gone in front it would have been interesting to see what would have happened, but we never quite got there.

"We'll learn from this. No complaints, Ponty deserved to go through."

Leeds: D Scarbrough, C Hall, T Davies, B van Straaten, D Albanese, G Ross, A Dickens, M Holt, R Rawlinson (capt), G Kerr, S Campbell, T Palmer, D Hyde, J Ponton, I Feaunati.
Reps: M O'Keefe, M Regan, P Murphy, C Hogg, D Hegarty, T Rock, C Emmerson.

Pontypridd: B Davey; G Wyatt, S Parker, J Bryant, E Lewis; C Sweeney, P John; G Jenkins, M Davies (capt), D Bell, B Cockbain, R Sidoli, N Kelly, R Parks, G Lewis.
Reps: S Cronk, M Rees, D McIntosh, N Jenkins, W O'Connor

Ref: Didier Mene (France)