Sexton: Breaks Montpellier hearts
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Leinster pivot Johnny Sexton kicked a last-gasp penalty to snatch a 16-16 draw with Montpellier, and deny the French club a famous opening Heineken Cup win on Saturday.
In what was an absorbing contest at the Stade Yves Du Manoir, the hosts looked to have done everything humanly possible to hold off the defending champions until a brain explosion from replacement Remy Martin handed Sexton a chance to save his team's blushes... and the Ireland star didn't disappoint.
Heartbreak for Montpellier, relief for Leinster. But, perhaps, a fair result.
It was a rip-roaring Pool 3 clash, with both teams showing tremendous skill with ball in hand as the crowd were treated to some brilliant entertaining rugby.
It was Test match quality, and neither side took their foot off the pedal as the match clicked from first to fifth gear straight from the kick-off. And it continued to stay that way right until the final whistle.
Up against the defending champions, tournament newbies Montpellier quite rightly entered the match as underdogs.
But the Frenchmen - third last in the Top 14 - weren't prepared to roll over so easily, and instead delivered a ferocious performance that more often than not left the Irish province shell-shocked.
Scrum-half Benoit Paillaugue opened Montpellier's Heineken Cup account with a penalty after two minutes but that was soon cancelled out by Sexton who kicked his first points of the 2011/12 campaign.
The two-time Heineken Cup-winnnig fly-half then kicked Leinster in front with his second penalty from 47m out to take the lead.
Powered on from their fanatical support, Montpellier then crossed for the opening try in fantastic fashion. With Leinster on the attack, an Ica Nacewa chip hit a Montpellier defender which allowed Lucas Amorosino to hack ahead and give chase.
Amorosino won the footrace, and captain Fulgence Ouedraogo was fed the ball for the easiest of scores. Paillaugue added the extras and then another penalty before the interval to round-up a dominant first forty minutes.
The titanic battle continued at a furious pace in the second period and it again was Montpellier that struck first. With Paillaugue off the field, kicking duties fell to Francois Trinh-Duc, and the French fly-half had no problem extending his side's lead to ten points (16-6).
Leinster, famed for their fightback ability, then began edging their way back into the game. Using all their European experience they started pushing Montpellier backwards and started to control proceedings.
Replacement hooker Sean Cronin showed great pace and power to grab Leinster's only try and Sexton's conversion brought the scores to within three.
With the clock showing red, Sexton then cooly slotted his final penalty. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Ouedraogo
Cons: Paillaugue
Pens: Paillaugue 2, Trinh-Duc
For Leinster:
Tries: Cronin
Cons: Sexton
Pens: Sexton 3
Montpellier: 15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Yoan Audrin, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Masi Matadigo, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Mickael Demarco, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Agustin Creevy, 1 Na'ama Leleimalefaga.
Replacements: 16 Rassie Jansen Van Vuuren, 17 Mikheil Nariashvili, 18 George Jgenti, 19 Drickus Hancke, 20 Rémy Martin, 21 Julien Tomas, 22 Paul Bosch, 23 Martin Bustos Moyano.
Leinster: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Isa Nacewa, 13 Fergus McFadden, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Damian Browne, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Heinke Van Der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Shane Jennings, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Eoin O'Malley.
Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
Comments
GoWalesGo says...
Bad call by the ref for the final penalty should of been the other way around!
Posted 12:17 14th November 2011
curates_egg says...
Amazed - given the eulogising of ROG's excellent drop goal - that there hasn't been more of the same for Sexton. To nail what was a difficult penalty on 80 minutes is one thing but with the din in the stadium, it was exceptional - I have never heard such noise from such a small crowd as we had for that kick on Saturday.
Otherwise, result seems to be balanced. I thought Pearson was brutal at the breakdown, missing constant infringements from both sides. He never once pinged Montpellier who spent the whole game offside. He was also very kind to Leinster in the scrums.
Talking to Montpellier fans after the match, they naturally felt hard done by. They weren't though.
Posted 08:30 14th November 2011
crunchfit says...
Are you going to let the comments come through RD? Wouldn't mind reading them and all the comments from the other matches at that time have been passed.
Posted 23:47 13th November 2011
Jonathan1 says...
Anyone think that Sextons penalty went over in the 64th minute?
I thought it did. Before anyone jumps on this the Donald penalty in the RWC final did go over- do we need taller posts?? Why does one touchie stay up against the post- start deep and walk up to the cross bar if there is a question of the ball being close to the cross bar. It really is not hard. That is the second one after Wales v SA that I have seen. Is over the top of the post a goal?
Posted 23:31 13th November 2011
Rosbif says...
Question for any refs out there, eg Justice_4_all?.
My (admittedly basic) understanding of tackle law sequence is as follows: 1) tackler must release tackled player and roll away, 2) tackled player can then place ball or throw offload, 3) arriving player (if not involved in tackle) has rights and continues to enjoy rights if he has hands on ball and feet on ground carrying his bodyweight, 4) if tackler releases tackled player, he has same rights as arriving player.
PR describes Remy Martin as having a "brain explosion".....
Clock is on 79.08 minutes. Nacewa is tackled by Amorosino. Amorosino releases Nacewa and begins to roll away. Martin (not involved in tackle) arrives first and puts hands on ball. Heaslip arrives next and tries to lift Martin's legs as an attempted clear-out. Martin keeps his feet and keeps his hands on ball. Pearson (ref) shouts "No hands" as further players arrive turning the "tackle" into a "ruck". Martin lets go. Pearson blows penalty. How is this a brain explosion by Remy Martin?
Alternatively, go back one phase of play......
78.45 scrum to Leinster. Heaslip feed to Reddan. Reddan pass to Darcy on 78.50. Darcy knocks on in tackle 5m from the Montpellier line. Ball is picked up by a Montpol defender and hurriedly squirted out to touch just outside 22. Pearson shouts "advantage over" as ball is in flight.
How can this be advantage over?
Go back for the scrum for the knock-on. As we know, clock is not stopped for a scrum. Knock-on is on 78.50. By the time scrum is set, 80 mins wld be gone and clock wld be red. Montpol then clear their lines and game is over.
No wonder Galthie walked off. Gggrrrrr...
(Before I get shouted down by all the Leinster fans, this is just an e.g. I thought game was great. No-one deserved to lose. Montpol's try had more than a little good fortune also. So draw was ok result all round)
Posted 23:18 12th November 2011
papachinzo says...
The referee was awful, never seen such bad officiating!!
Posted 21:31 12th November 2011
Rosbif says...
Mamuuuuuuuuka Gorgoooooooodze. Nightmares anybody? Wonder how well SOB will be sleeping tonight. Well at least Georgia aren't in the 6N, hehehe.......
Posted 20:22 12th November 2011
crunchfit says...
Not as sharp in attack as usual. And Montpellier were fantastic in defense and sharp and unpredictable in attack. They were certainly the better team today.
McLaughlin had a great season in 09 and a good start of last year, but he really hasn't been back up to that level since then. Heaslip was average. He is really needed to steal ball but he cough's it up more often than he steals it these days. Van Der Merwe was pretty average in the scrum. Not a great game from SOB, first time I've ever thought that though. Kearney was great. As was Sexton. Cronin was great in attack, reminds me of a cannon ball. Other players ranged from average to good.
Referee was good overall, but he was terrible at the breakdown. I'm not sure if he penalised it once, but the amount of players on the floor and sealing off the ball was ridiculous. There were many times where possession could have been lost / stolen but it wasn't because of the mess at the breakdown.
Posted 20:05 12th November 2011
caramba13 says...
Leinster looked very ordinary in the first half. The famed back line were impotent and even SOB very quiet among the forwards. McFadden really too predictable to be effective. Sexton taking nearly every pass at a standstill. Monpol deserved to win for their sheer engagement: their back line should have been used much more - they had nothing to fear from those in front. However, Cronin was exceptional and saved the game for Leinster - what a try!
Posted 17:55 12th November 2011
leinster_goy says...
how about that bottle from Sexyboy! st declan of assisi, i hope you were watching
considering montpellier's dominance at the breakdown - gorgodze and ouedraogo in particular - escaping with a draw is a fantastic result. well done also to cronin who looks like he is finally showing real progress
Posted 16:04 12th November 2011