The Montpellier residents are overjoyed after their success in the European Challenge final against Leicester on Friday at Twickenham. – Andrew Fosker / BPI / Shutterstock / Sipa
The sentence is signed by hooker and captain Guilhem Guirado: “This trophy will allow us to save our season and also give us this breath of fresh air to allow us, I hope, to keep us going. “Montpellier won its second European Challenge on Friday evening, the” small “Continental Rugby Cup, thanks to a one-point success in the final ahead of the English Leicester on Friday evening at Twickenham (18-17).
Guirado and his partners dampened the enthusiasm of some 10,000 English supporters, who chanted “Tigers, Tigers”, the nickname of the Leicester team, by winning at the end of the suspense. After the success of the MHR, the two European trophies will therefore go to France, since Toulouse and La Rochelle face each other this Saturday in the Champions Cup final. A first since 1997, thanks to the victories of Brive and Bourgoin-Jallieu.
🔵🟠ＣＨＡＭＰＩＯＮＳ 🟠🔵
At the end of the effort the Cistes will seek the title by winning, by one point, against the @leicestertigers. 🤩🥳#TeamMHR #LEIMHR #champions #challengecup #montpellier #yayayayayaya pic.twitter.com/XePh7Ei5Rj
– Montpellier Rugby (@MHR_officiel) May 21, 2021
But if the course of Toulouse and Rochelais is not a surprise, imagining Montpellier winning a second European Challenge, after 2016, seemed unexpected a few months ago. At the beginning of February, the club chaired by Mohed Altrad, big moneyer of rugby, was still penultimate of Top 14. But the sporting director Philippe Saint-André has straightened the Languedoc ship well.
The PSA effect
The former coach of the XV of France (2011-2015), who became a coach again in early January after the dismissal of Xavier Garbajosa, even transformed a dying team into a conquering squad.
It wasn’t all easy and PSA initially had to concede five losses in five games after putting on the coach’s tracksuit. But since the beginning of February, the Montpellier machine has started up again. It has thus conceded only two defeats in twelve games, in all competitions. Friday, in the 15th century temple of the Rose, the Languedocians completed this recovery, by winning despite an indiscipline that could have been crippling.
The MHR will play in the next Champions Cup
“We win this match which was tough, tough, Leicester is good in front. But hey, what abnegation, what courage! “, Greeted Saint-André at the microphone of France 3.
Not yet saved in Top 14, Montpellier will have to put on the warming blue to ensure its maintenance and this, from Tuesday. He will travel to Bordeaux-Bègles for a late match, which promises to be difficult. But with a lighter heart and a qualification for the 2021-2022 Champions Cup in my pocket.