Montpellier fall short

Montpellier failed to gather the bonus point victory over Montauban that would have done their Heineken Cup qualification chances a power of good, with a 12-8 win at the Stade Yves du Manoir on Friday.

Montpellier failed to gather the bonus point victory over Montauban that would have done their Heineken Cup qualification chances a power of good, with a 12-8 win at the Stade Yves du Manoir on Friday.

The home side took control in the first half, racking up nine unanswered points and laying what seemed to be a platform for the convincing victory needed.

But Montauban fought back gamely, points machine Fabien Fortassin briefly found his game to land a penalty to make it 9-3, and then number eight Marc Reynaud took a terrific blind side switch off scrum-half Petre Mitu to score and make it 9-8.

Fortassin, who had already missed one penalty, missed the conversion and then missed yet another penalty as the visitors turned the screw.

Raynaud's try left the hosts needing to score four for the bonus point, but they rarely threatened the visitors' line as the boot took a hold on the game.

Francois Trinh-Duc made the win safe for the home side with a late penalty, but it was too late for miracles.

The win takes Montpellier to 57 points on the table, but two behind Montauban on 59 with one week of the Top 14 left to play. Heineken Cup qualification is thus out of the Héraults' hands.