An 80th minute try from wing Timoci Nagusa saw Montpellier scrape past Bath 24-22 on Saturday for their first win in the Heineken Cup.
Montpellier went into this match knowing they couldn't qualify from Pool 3, but could however avenge their 16-13 defeat to Bath at the Rec during Round Two of the competition.
Indeed the French side came straight out of the blocks at the Stade Yves Du Manoir, and had a try within the very first minute. They immediately attacked the Bath rearguard, and winger Pierre Bérard dived over to give Montpellier the lead. Benoit Paillaugue added the conversion to give the hosts the perfect start.
The visitors responded well from that early setback, and closed the gap after ten minutes when Olly Barkley fired over a penalty.
The sides cancelled each other out for long periods after that approaching the break, and it seemed there would be no more scores in the opening period.
One moment of note however, was the sin-binning of Nagusa for the home side just before the interval, and Bath duly capitalised right on half time when Ryan Caldwell went over for a try, with Barkley converting.
Montpellier responded well on the restart, and drew level with a Paillaugue penalty with half hour to play.
However, despite Bath having a sin bin of their own, they scored their second try of the contest, Caldwell again diving over, Tom Heathcote converting to make it a seven point game.
The home side were determined to get something from the game though, and again drew level with ten minutes left, when Alex Tulou dived over, and Paillaugue converted to set up a grandstand finish.
Bath again took the lead when Matt Banahan dived over with time against Montpellier, but the French side responded yet again right on full time, when Nagusa eluded the Bath defence to level things up and Martin Bustos Moyana kept his nerve to land the conversion to give the hosts a deserved victory at the death.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Bérard, Tulou, Nagusa
Cons: Paillaugue 2,Bustos Moyano
Pens: Paillaugue
For Bath:
Tries: Caldwell 2, Banahan
Cons: Barkley, Heathcote
Pens: Barkley
Yellow cards: Nagusa (Montpellier - 38th min); Wilson (Bath - 47th min)
Montpellier:15 J-B Peyras Loustalet, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Thomas Combezou, 11 Pierre Bérard, 10 Santiago Fernandez, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Masi Matadigo, 7 Rémy Martin, 6 Vassili Bost, 5 Joe Tuineau, 4 Mickael Demarco, 3 Maximiliano Bustos, 2 Mickael Ladhuie, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements: 16 Joan Caudullo, 17 Na'ama Leleimalefaga, 18 Kevin Kervarec, 19 Drickus Hancke, 20 Alex Tulou, 21 Julien Tomas, 22 Yoan Audrin, 23 Martin Bustos Moyano.
Bath:15 Nick Abendanon, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Olly Barkley, 12 Matt Banahan, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Michael Claassens, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Francois Louw (c), 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 David Wilson, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Charlie Beech.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 David Flatman, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Andy Beattie, 20 Guy Mercer, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Williams, 23 Sam Vesty.
Venue: Stade Yves du Manoir, Montpellier
Referee: Dudley Phillips
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