Montpellier beat La Rochelle to go third

Editor

Montpellier moved up to third in the Top 14 standings as they battled past a spirited La Rochelle side, winning 25-20 at Altrad Stadium on Friday.

La Rochelle were leading 9-10 at the interval thanks to a try from flanker Afaesetiti Amosa and the boot of Zach Holmes, with Demetri Catrakilis replying for the home side with three penalties.

However, after the turnaround the boot of the South African came to the fore as he finished with 20 points to his name, two of those coming via a conversion of Ben Mowen's 69th minute try.

The fly-half slotted six penalties as he punished La Rochelle for their indiscretions, with Gagi Bazadze's try two minutes from time a welcome one for the visitors who took home a bonus-point.

The scorers:

For Montpellier:
Try: Mowen
Con: Catrakilis
Pen: Catrakilis 6

For La Rochelle:
Tries: Amosa, Bazadze
Con: Holmes, Lebail
Pen: Holmes, Lebail

Montpellier: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Jesse Mogg, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Ben Mowen, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Willem du Plessis, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Mickael Ivaldi, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Christoffel van der Linde, 18 Robins Tchale Watchou, 19 Kelian Galletier, 20 Nicholas White, 21 Ben Lucas, 22 Timoci Nagusa, 23 Pat Cilliers.

La Rochelle: 15 Kini Murimurivalu, 14 Charles Bouldoire, 13 Malietoa Hingano, 12 Levani Botia, 11 Alexander Northam, 10 Zack Holmes, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Kevin Gourdon, 7 Afaesetiti Amosa, 6 Jason Eaton, 5 Leandro Cedaro, 4 Romana Graham, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Maxime Gau, 1 Vincent Pelo.
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Geledan, 17 Mike Corbel, 18 Jone Qovu, 19 Zeno Kieft, 20 Jules Lebail, 21 Fabien Fortassin, 22 Eliott Roudil, 23 Gagi Bazadze.

Referee: Romain Poite