The Montpellier players celebrate their victory against Bath (19-10) in the semi-final of the European Rugby Challenge on May 1, 2021. – Patrick Khachfe / JMP // SIPA
Montpellier can say thank you to its heroic defense. Thanks to this, the club is in the final of the European Rugby Challenge. Montpellier in fact defended its line on Saturday night throughout the second period to win in Bath (19-10) in the semi-finals of the competition.
The Montpellier players will face in the final on May 21 at Twickenham, another English club, that of the Leicester Tigers, who had eliminated Ulster 33-24 on Friday.
A difficult start
To get his ticket for the final, Montpellier took on Saturday night the fable of the reed which bends but does not break. The players managed to recover from a complicated start to the match, with a strength test from hooker Tom Dunn in the second minute (7-0). Philippe Saint-André’s men gradually took control of the match to take the lead shortly after half of the first act on a very good try.
A small kick over Benoit Paillaugue, well recovered by Vincent Rattez, allowed the winger to serve at height Yacouba Diawara, the power of the third row wing allowing him to cover the last meters until the in -but (10-7, 23rd). With two additional penalties from Paillaugue (31st, 36th), against one from Ben Spencer (25th), the French returned to the locker room with six points ahead (16-10).
Bath immediately seemed very recovered in the second act and when the post pushed back a penalty from Paillaugue which would have sheltered Montpellier from a converted try, it was feared that the Héraultais missed their chance. But with courage, abnegation, and just the right amount of vice, they were able to repel the English assaults. They sometimes used expedients, such as those which earned a yellow card for the pillar Enzo Forletta (57th), but there were also some pieces of bravery like this ball torn from the opposing arms by Bismarck du Plessis who had just entered the game. (63rd).
After spending 29% of the match in its 22 meters, Montpellier was able to breathe thanks to a penalty obtained by Fulgence Ouedraogo on a scratching on the ground two minutes from the end. By perfectly managing the penalty and the stopwatch, they even obtained a penalty transformed in the last seconds by Handré Pollard (19-10). This gave a little more relief to this XXL performance.