Exeter claim memorable win at Montpellier
Exeter made it two wins out of two in Pool 3 of the European Champions Cup as they shocked Montpellier 27-24 at Altrad Stadium on Sunday.
Tries from Don Armand (2) and Ian Whitten along with 12 points from Gareth Steenson's boot saw them to a crucial four points on the road.
Nemani Nadolo was outstanding with two tries while Joe Tomane and Benoit Paillaugue also crossed for Montpellier who get two bonus points. However, this is their second pool defeat in as many weeks to leave them bottom of the pool.
An entertaining first-half saw four tries scored but despite three of those going the way of Montpellier, poor kicking meant they only led 17-10.
Tomane opened the scoring in the seventh minute when a ricochet after Ruan Pienaar's grubber led to the centre gathering and reaching over.
Exeter aren't Premiership champions for nothing though and duly responded on 18 minutes, this time five minutes after their driving maul from a lineout was held up. The try ultimately came from short carries and it was Armand who finished strongly under the posts for a 7-5 cushion.
The Chiefs were now on top and with Jesse Mogg yellow-carded for deliberately slapping down a Henry Slade pass and Pienaar being replaced due to a neck injury on 21 minutes, suddenly the scales seemed tipped in their favour. That point was strengthened with a Steenson penalty.
However, Montpellier recovered and crossed through Paillaugue five minutes later to level and with 10-10 looking like being the half-time scoreline, up stepped Fiji finisher Nadolo with a quite remarkable finish on the left wing, despite the best efforts of three Exeter tacklers.
The tries kept coming after the interval and it was Exeter who struck first when centre Whitten slipped some weak Montpol tackling from 35 metres out to tie things up again. However, Montpellier soon hit back through that man Nadolo, this time from close range to make it 24-17.
Vern Cotter's side were now looking to turn the screw and almost crossed again but for Jacques du Plessis spilling the ball two metres out.
That came back to haunt them when Armand barged his way over for a brace on 64 minutes, bringing Exeter level once again at 24 points each.
At this stage it seemed like Exeter were the more likely winners and with Steenson landing a 72nd minute penalty for the lead, the Chiefs were in sight of a memorable European victory on the road. They managed to hold on and move on to eight points, two behind Leinster.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Tomane, Paillaugue, Nadolo 2
Cons: Paillaugue 2
Yellow Card: Mogg
For Exeter:
Tries: Armand 2, Whitten
Cons: Steenson 3
Pens: Steenson 2
Montpellier: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Benjamin Fall, 13 Joseph Tomane, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Benoit Paillaugue, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Kelian Galletier, 5 Nicholaas van Rensburg, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Antoine Guillamon, 2 Romain Ruffenach, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Grégory Fichten, 18 Davit Kubriashvili, 19 Julien Delannoy, 20 Wiaan Liebenberg, 21 Enzo Sanga, 22 Timoci Nagusa, 23 Joffrey Michel
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Don Armand, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Ben Moon
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Ollie Atkins, 20 Sam Simmonds, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Tom Hendrickson, 23 James Short
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Joy Neville (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)