Montpellier survives plucky Dragons to book Finals ticket
MATCH REPORT: Montpellier survived a late Dragons surge to book their place in the Challenge Cup Final with an 18-12 victory at Septeo Stadium on Sunday.
Montpellier will meet Ulster in the Final on May 22 in Bilbao.
The hosts had a 10-point lead after 26 minutes, with Tyler DeGuid scoring the only try for Montpellier in the first half and flyhalf Thomas Vincent adding a conversion and a penalty.
The Dragons struck back through a try by Aneurin Owen on the 30-minute mark before Vincent goaled his second penalty of the afternoon on the stroke of halftime
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Montpellier went down to 14 players in the 58th minute when Nika Abuladze was sent to the sinbin for a deliberate knock-on.
That, however, didn’t hinder the home side as they didn’t concede any points during the yellow card period and scored a try of their own through scrumhalf Alexis Bernadet to take an 18-5 lead.
The Dragons kept fighting, and Owen grabbed a brace with Angus O’Brien slotting the conversion to bring it back to a five-point game.
The visitors had opportunities late in the game to cause an upset, but their handling and decision-making let them down as Montpellier sealed the deal to book a date with Ulster in the Challenge Cup Final.
Scorers
For Montpellier:
Tries: Duguid, Bernadet
Con: Vincent
Pens: Vincent 2
For Dragons RFC:
Tries: Owen 2
Con: O’Brien
Yellow card: Nika Abuladze (Montpellier, 59′ – Cynical foul: deliberate knock on)
Teams
Montpellier: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Donovan Taofifenua, 13 Auguste Cadot, 12 Lennox Anyanwu, 11 Melvyn Rates, 10 Thomas Vincent, 9 Alexis Bernadet, 8 Lenni Nouchi (captain), 7 Alex Becognee, 6 Marco Tauleigne, 5 Tyler DuGuid, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Valentin Welsch, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Baptiste Erdocio
Replacements: 16 Lyam Akrab, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Mohamed Haouas, 19 Yacouba Camara, 20 Alex Masibaka, 21 Tom Baraer, 22 Domingo Miotti, 23 Thomas Darmon
Dragons RFC: 15 Angus O’Brien (captain), 14 Dai Richards, 13 Fine Inisi, 12 Aneurin Owen, 11 Rio Dyer, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Niall Armstrong, 8 Aaron Wainwright, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 Ben Carter (captain), 4 Levi Douglas, 3 Christian Coleman, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rodrigo Martinez
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Seb Davies, 20 Harrison Keddie, 21 Jac Lloyd, 22 Fetuli Paea, 23 Huw Anderson
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Filippo Russo (Italy)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland)
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