Jake's Montpelier boots Toulouse out
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Montpellier defied the odds to secure a 27-26 triumph and send Toulouse out of the European Champions Cup at the Altrad Stadium.
The four-time European kings looked set to cruise into the quarterfinals after winning all four consecutive matches in the tournament's early rounds.
But Montpellier made it five wins from five against French opposition in Europe at their new stadium to send Toulouse out of the competition.
Clement Poitrenaud and Toby Flood scored charge down tries but Lucas Dupont's quick-fire double downed the side leading Pool Four at the start of the day.
Toulouse' bid for Pool four supremacy suffered an early setback when they were guilty of pulling down a rolling Montpellier maul, Ben Lucas landed the penalty to put the hosts in-front.
McAlister had two shots at goal to level, put could not tame the wind at the Altrad Stadium.
The visitors had the chance to impose themselves when Rene Ranger saw yellow for a dangerous tackle on hooker Corey Flynn.
But it was Jake White's side who increased their advantage from the boot of Benoit Paillaugue, the scrumhalf swept the ball off the tee and through the posts from inside his own half.
But Toulouse finally pounced through Poitrenaud. The France stalwart charged down Pierre Berard on his own line and collected to give his side a fortuitous lead.
McAlister found his kicking boots after the score to convert, before he and Lucas swapped penalties. But the Kiwi kicker got one better of his Australian counterpart to land another penalty before the break for 13-9 half-time lead.
Berard's kicking nightmare continued moments after the break. Replacement flyhalf Toby Flood was the man to block his punt this time, with the same result to give Toulouse a 20-9 lead.
But Montpellier showed the guile and guts they had been missing in the previous rounds with two Dupont tries in quick succession.
His first came after Ranger burst through the defensive line to combine with Akapusi Qera who set the wing free of a run to the line with a well timed offload.
He was in the right place at the right time two minutes later after Paillaugue darted down the blindside and found Dupont heading for the line.
Every time Flood put his side back in-front, Montpellier replied to keep a hold of their one-point advantage.
Scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Dupont 2
Con: Lucas
Pens: Lucas 3, Paillaugue 2
For Toulouse:
Tries: Poitrenaud, Flood
Cons: McAlister, Flood
Pens: McAlister 2, Flood 2
Teams:
Montpellier: 15 Pierre Berard, 14 Rene Ranger, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Lucas Dupont, 10 Benjamin Lucas, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Antoine Battut, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo (captain), 5 Thibaut Privat, 4 Tom Donnelly, 3 David Attoub, 2 Charles Géli, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili.
Replacements: 16 Mickaël Ivaldi, 17 Yvan Watremez, 18 Pat Cilliers, 19 Robins Tchale Watchou, 20 Alexandre Bias, 21 Jonathan Pélissié, 22 Enzo Selponi, 23 Benoit Sicart.
Toulouse: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Clément Poitrenaud, 11 Yoann Huget, 10 Luke McAlister, 9 Jean-Marc Doussain, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 Yannick Nyanga, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Yoann Maestri, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Cyril Baille, 19 Joe Tekori, 20 Grégory Lamboley, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Toby Flood, 23 Florian Fritz.
Referee: Greg Garner (England)
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (England), Roy Maybank (England)
TMO: David Grashoff (England)
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