Chiefs breath mew life in Euro campaign
The bonus-point win means they leapfrogged their opponents in Pool Three.
Exeter is one point ahead of Montpellier, but they are still five points behind leaders Leinster – who play their Round Five game at home to winless Glasgow on Sunday.
Montpellier, the Top 14 leaders, were hugely disappointing with their forwards being comfortably out-muscled by a dominant home pack.
Their only points came from a try by Nemani Nadolo and a penalty and a conversion from Aaron Cruden.
It took 27 minutes for the first points of the match, when Dave Ewers powered over the try line to give Exeter a seven point lead at the interval after Gareth Steenson's conversion
Montpellier enjoyed plenty of possession early in the second half, and closed the gap with a penalty kick from Aaron Cruden, but were further behind minutes later when Sam Simmonds was able to jump over the Montpellier defence and score a crucial try.
Olly Woodburn then acrobatically scored a pair of brilliant tries, giving the Sandy Park side a 23-point cushion after 65 minutes.
Nic White and Don Armand added further tries for Exeter, who secured a try bonus-point in the process meaning Nemani Nadolo's 77th minute try was nothing more than a consolation.
Exeter Chiefs travel to face Glasgow Warriors in Round 6, while Montpellier host Leinster Rugby at Altrad Stadium.
The scorers:
For Exeter:
Tries: Ewers, S Simmonds, Woodburn 2, White, Armand
Cons: Steenson 3, J Simmonds
Pen: J Simmonds
For Montpellier:
Try: Nadolo
Con: Cruden
Pen: Cruden
Teams:
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson (captain), 9 Nic White, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Ewers, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Ben Moon.
Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Toby Salmon, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Phil Dollman.
Montpellier: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Gabriel N'gandebe, 13 Frans Steyn, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Yacouba Camara, 6 Julien Bardy, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Nicholaas Van Rensburg, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements: 16 Romain Ruffenach, 17 Grégory Fichten, 18 Mohamed Haouas, 19 Julien Delannoy, 20 Kelian Galletier, 21 Jesse Mogg, 22 Joe Tomane, 23 Benjamin Fall.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Craig Evans (Wales), Wayne Davies (Wales)
TMO: Neil Hennessy (Wales)
Source: @ChampionsCup
