Montpellier further Clermont’s misery

Editor

Montpellier capped off a miserable seven days for Clermont with a 19-15 win at the Stade Marcel Michelin.

Montpellier as a result close in on the top four places in the Top 14 with this important win.

François Trinh-Duc's drop goal in the 12th minute produced the game's first points after sustained pressure from the visitors inside Clermont territory.

Benoît Paillaugue missed his first penalty attempt and despite the visitors enjoying more of the possession there was no further score until the half-hour mark, when Camille Lopez added three points for Clermont.

Montpellier responded with the game's first try after Jesse Mogg released Marvin O'Connor down the touchline to score in the corner.

Paillaugue converted and added two quick penalties before the break, putting Montpellier up 3-16 as the home crowd made their feelings known with plenty of boos when the teams left the field.

They were happier at the sight of Lopez adding a second penalty after half-time and his replacement Brock James continued that trend with another three points to make it 9-16.

With Clermont knocking on the door the visitors were put down to 14 men after a yellow card for Bismarck du Plessis, James adding another penalty, before a Demetri Catrakilis drop goal and another James penalty left the game at 15-19 going into the final few minutes.

Clermont were forced to hunt for the winning try but Montpellier's defence held firm, a late penalty attempt from Nic White running down the clock.

There was time for one final Clermont attack from a tapped penalty, but the ball was knocked on to give Montpellier victory.

The scorers:

For Clermont: 
Pens: Lopez 2, James 3

For Montpellier: 
Tries: O'Connor
Cons: Paillaugue
Pens: Paillaugue 2
Drop Goals: Trinh-Duc, Catrakilis
Yellow Card: B du Plessis

Clermont: 15 Scott Spedding, 14 Hosea Gear, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 Julien Bardy, 6 Camille Gerondeau, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Loic Jacquet, 3 Dan Kotze, 2 Benjamin Kayser, 1 Raphael Chaume
Replacements: 16 Pellow van der Westhuizen, 17 Vincent Debaty, 18 Paul Jedrasiak, 19 Damien Chouly, 20 Enzo Sanga, 21 Brock James, 22 Albert Vulivuli, 23 Doug Wooldridge

Montpellier: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Julien Malzieu, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Ben Lucas, 11 Marvin O'Connor, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Wiaan Liebenberg, 6 Antoine Battut, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Robins Tchale-Watchou, 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Jacques Du Plessis, 19 Ben Mowen,
20 Nic White, 21 Demetri Catrakilis, 22 Yvan Reilhac, 23 Jannie du Plessis

Referee: Salem Attalah 
Assistant Referees: Cédric Marchat, Laurent Amic 
TMO: Patrick Péchambert