Connacht pay price for yellows as Montpellier power into Challenge Cup final four

Stuart Lancaster bmoaned his side's ill-discipline in France.

Connacht's Cian Prendergast dejected after the match. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie

European Challenge Cup: Montpellier 45 Connacht 22.

Stuart Lancaster said that three yellow cards in the opening half left them with a mountain to climb in this Challenge Cup quarter-final in Montpellier.

Montpellier led 26-8 at the break with the French scoring all their points when Connacht had men in the bin.

"I think obviously the first half was the problem in terms of the three yellow cards. That obviously put us under huge pressure. So to go in at 26-8, we still had a lot of strong belief that we could come back and obviously get the try early in the second half, 26-15.

“But the try in the corner to make it 33-15 was a big moment, I thought. Then you're chasing the game, I thought Montpellier defended well, I think they're a really good defensive team. But we created so many opportunities, but it was either a last pass or a knock-on. And the cards.” 

A difficult task from the outset was made impossible with three yellow cards in the opening half, two of them coming in the opening six minutes, undermining any chance Connacht had of getting on top from the outset.

Their six-match winning run never looked like being extended. The good start which Lancaster targeted came in the form of a third minute penalty from Sam Gilbert after scrumhalf Matthew Devine had put Montpellier under pressure with a good kick.

But Connacht failed to deal with the restart, lock Joe Joyce got pinged and Montpellier went straight to the corner with hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin binned as they struggled to deal with the lineout maul.

Montpellier repeated the dose, again getting a drive off the lineout and this referee Christophe Ridley binned Shamus Hurley-Langton and awarded a penalty try.

Down seven points and down to 13 men with just six minutes gone, it left Connacht with a mountain to climb.

Bundee Aki took on the lineout throws, nailed the first two but when the third went astray they brought on replacement hooker Matthew Victory for a couple of minutes.

Connacht defended gamely but the pressure finally yielded a maul try for hooker Christopher Toloofua to make it 14-3.

Tierney-Martine marked his return by finishing a fine try in the right corner after Gilbert made ground down the left and from the recycle Devine and Aki’s quick hands led to Chay Mullins putting Tierney-Martin in to cut the gap to 14-8 after 18 minutes.

Neither team scored when it was then 15 against 15 but a yellow card to Shayne Bolton for a late tackle on his opposite number Donovan Taoififenua led to another try from a lineout maul with tighthead Mohamed Haouas getting over.

Connacht didn’t help their cause by losing three lineouts in a row and the cheap handover of possession was punished when Argentine outhalf scored and converted after a chip from Wallaby Tom Banks bounced kindly for him, although on another day the review for offside might have gone Connacht’s way.

Connacht started the second half strongly, building through the phases and while Paul Boyle and Devine were stopped, ball recyle was good and Aki sent Sean Naughton in under the posts, with Gilbert’s conversion making 26-15 after 45 minutes Connacht needed the next score but it was Montpellier who got it after centre Auguste Cadot skipped through four tacklers to score under the posts, with the conversion pushing the lead out to 33-15.

Connacht got a glimmer of hope when replacement hooker Lyam Akram was binned after 56 minutes but unlike Montpellier, they were unable to punish, turning over possession from the five-metre lineout.

There was no way back from there for Connacht and Scottish scrumhalf Ali Price sniped over to make it 40-15 ten minutes from the end.

Connacht battled away and were rewarded when replacement tighthead Jack Aungier got in beside the posts four minutes from time but Montpellier turned the screw one final time when replacement tighthead Valentin Welsch got in for their seventh try.

Scorers: Montpellier: Tries: C Tolofua, M Haouas, D Miotti, A Cadot, A Price, V Welsch, penalty try. Cons: D Miotti (3), T Vincent.

Connacht: Tries: D Tierney-Martin, S Naughton, J Aungier. Cons: S Gilbert (2 from 3). Pen: Gilbert.

Montpellier: T Banks; D Taofifenua, A Cadot (A Vincent 60), L Anyanwu, J Echegaray; D Miotti (T Vincent 46), A Price; B Erdocio (E Forletta 55), C Tolofua (L Akrab 46), M Haouas (V Welsch 55); F Verhaeghe (M Tauleigne 61), T DuGuid; Y Camara (L Nouchi 49), A Becognee, B Vunipola (c).

Connacht: S Gilbert; S Bolton (M Victory 13-15, J Devine 66), C Forde, B Aki, C Mullins; S Naughton (J Carty 49), M Devine (B Murphy 55); B Bohan (P Dooley 49), D Tierney-Martin (Victory 49), S Illo (J Aungier 49), J Joyce (J Murphy 55), D Murray, C Prendergast (capt), S Hurley-Langton (S O’Brien 55), P Boyle.

Referee: Christophe Ridley (England).