Wilson hails crucial late kick

Cardiff Blues came from behind to win a nine-try thriller 37-27 against Montpellier at Cardiff's Arms Park.

Rhys Patchell's injury-time penalty nudged Cardiff 10 points clear of the French visitors at the end of a thrilling tie.

It meant Montpellier head back to Stade Yes Du Manoir for Thursday's return match with just one bonus point, after Charles Geli scored a fourth team try late on.

Cardiff Blues took maximum points after Josh Navidi (two), Patchell, Alex Cuthbert and Lloyd Williams all scored.

Wilson said: "That late kick for Rhys could be crucial. We were disappointed to leak a late try at the end but then to come back up-field and win a penalty that took away a bonus from Montpellier was important in terms of the group.

"Now the challenge is to do the same in Montpellier after a short turn-around next week."

Patchell crossed after just 43 seconds but Montpellier hit back with three tries in 14 minutes through Jamie Mackintosh, Timoci Nagusa and Julien Malzieu.

But Cardiff responded with 27 unanswered points before the late drama.

Wilson said: "We will certainly want to attack in the same way we did here. At half-time we said we were kicking too loosely and feeding a very dangerous team.

"But we knew if we kept the ball and kept running at them that we could work some openings.

"We are also very pleased with the set-piece but we know we still have some issues with the amount we are conceding. We seem to like making things difficult for ourselves and we let in a couple of soft tries. We have to look at that this week."

* In other Friday matches Connacht took control of Challenge Cup Pool One, after out-muscling Newcastle Falcons to claim a 25-10 victory in a tight encounter at the Sportsground.

* Fabien Fortassin put the wraps on La Rochelle's first win of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.

The flyhalf stepped through to score near the posts and clinch a bonus-point 27-19 victory at Stade Marcel-Deflandre

Friday's scores and scorers!

Pool One:

Connacht 25-10  Newcastle Falcons

The scorers:

For Connacht:

Try: Poolman

Con: Carty

Pens: Carty 6

For Newcastle:

Try: Mayhew

Con: Willis

Pen: Willis

Teams:

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O'Halloran, 14 Niyi Adeolokun, 13 Rory Parata, 12 Peter Robb, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 George Naoupu, 7 James Connolly, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Ultan Dillane, 3 Nathan White, 2 Jason Harris Wright, 1 Finlay Bealham.

Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Conan O'Donnell, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Danny Qualter, 20 David Heffernan, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Shane O'Leary, 23 Danie Poolman.

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Dan Marshall, 13 Tom Penny, 12 Chris Harris, 11 Zach Kibirige, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Ally Hogg, 7 Daniel Temm, 6 Richard Mayhew (c), 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Will Witty, 3 Taione Vea, 2 Scott Lawson, 1 Alex Rogers.

Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Andrew Foster, 19 Calum Green, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Ruaridh Dawson, 22 Juan Pablo Socino, 23 Marcus Watson.

Referee: Thomas Charabas (France)

Assistant referees: David Rosich (France), Laurent Amic (France)

Pool Three:

Cardiff Blues 37-27  Montpellier

The scorers:

For Cardiff Blues:

Tries: Patchell, Navidi 2, Williams, Cuthbert

Cons: Patchell 3

Pens: Patchell 2

For Montpellier:

Tries: Mackintosh, Nagusa, Malzieu, Geli

Cons: Paillaugue, Catrakilis

Pen: Paillaugue

Teams:

Cardiff Blues: 15 Dan Fish, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Tom James, 10 Rhys Patchell, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Josh Turnbull, 7 Josh Navidi, 6 Macauley Cook, 5 James Down, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Tau Filise, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Sam Hobbs.

Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 Scott Andrews, 20 Cam Dolan, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Jarrod Evans, 23 Garyn Smith.

Montpellier: 15 Benjamin Fall, 14 Timoci Nagusa, 13 Anthony Tuitavke, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Julien Malzieu, 10 Benjamin Lucas, 9 Benoit Paillaugue, 8 Akapusi Qera, 7 Antoine Battut, 6 Wiaan Liebenberg, 5 Paul Willemse, 4 Jacques Du Plessis, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Bismarck Du Plessis, 1 Jamie Mackintosh.

Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Mikheil Nariashvili, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Robins Tchale Watchou, 20 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 21 Cameron Wright, 22 Demetri Catrakilis, 23 Anthony Floch.

Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

Assistant referees: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)

Pool Four:

La Rochelle 27-19 Zebre

The scorers:

For La Rochelle:

Tries: Lapeyre, Qovu, Murimurivalu, Fortassin

Cons: Fortassin, Lebail

Pen: Fortassin

For Zebre:

Tries: Toniolatti, Palazzani, Penalty

Cons: Padovani 2

Teams:

La Rochelle: 15 Benjamin Lapeyre, 14 Lancelot Luteau, 13 Elliot Roudil, 12 Malietoa Hingano, 11 Kini Murimurivalu, 10 Fabien Fortassin, 9 Jules Lebail, 8 Jone Qovu Nailiko, 7 Zeno Kieft, 6 Romain Sazy, 5 Leo Cedaro, 4 Damien Lagrange, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Maxime Gau, 1 Thomas Synaeghel.

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Geledan, 17 Jordan Seneca, 18 Gagi Bazadze, 19 Romana Graham, 20 Benoit Guyot, 21 Ricky Januarie, 22 Jean-Pascal Barraque, 23 Kamilieni Raivono.

Zebre: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Kayle Van Zyl, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Matteo Pratichetti, 11 Michele Visentin, 10 Edoardo Padovani, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Paul Derbyshire, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Filippo Ferrarini, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Valerio Bernabo, 3 Pietro Ceccarelli, 2 Victor Emiliano Coria Marchetti, 1 Andrea de Marchi.

Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Andrea Lovotti, 18 Dario Chistolini, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Filippo Cristiano, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Giiulio Toniolatti, 23 Carlo Canna.

Referee: Tom Foley (England)

Assistant referees: Andrew Small (England), Roger Baileff (England)

Source: @ERChallengeCup