Connacht Fall Short In France But Turn In ‘Much Better Performance’

Connacht came within metres of a late match-winning try but Montpellier held on to win a helter-skelter Heineken Champions Cup clash 35-29 at the GGL Stadium.

With both teams out of quarter-final contention, they threw caution to the wind and produced a nine-try thriller which was decided by winger Yvan Reilhac’s 77th-minute try.

Connacht had the momentum at half-time despite trailing 21-0 at one stage due to seven-pointers from Levan Cilachava and Gabriel N’gandebe (2). The province produced a dazzling 10-minute spell, either side of the break, that saw them reel off four tries.

Matt Healy, John Porch and Kieran Marmion brought them level before Kyle Godwin’s 43rd-minute effort made it 26-21. A Jack Carty penalty still had Connacht leading late on, yet Reilhac completed his second half brace to claim third place for Montpellier in Pool 5.

Connacht’s porous defence let them down as Montpellier dominated the opening half-an-hour. Attacking from a close-in ruck, Georgian prop Cilachava got past Eoghan Masterson to touch down in the third minute.

Although captain Jarrad Butler led a promising response from Connacht, they fell further behind in the 23rd minute when tricky winger N’gandebe evaded the clutches of both Tiernan O’Halloran and Healy to go in under the posts.

Montpellier let their footballing skills do the talking five minutes later, Handré Pollard and Reilhac both kicking through before full-back Johan Goosen retrieved possession near the Connacht line. Quick ruck ball allowed N’gandebe to beat the first defender and crash over.

Yet, as the interval approached, Connacht made timely inroads through their forwards. Montpellier were suddenly caught for numbers on the left and returning scrum half Marmion and Godwin combined to send Healy scampering over from his wing berth.

Try number two followed from a Masterson interception, the ball being moved wide for Australian Porch to finish acrobatically in the right corner, evading two despairing tackles. Carty converted and also tagged on the extras to Marmion’s score, set up by Bundee Aki cleverly drawing in three defenders.

Into the second half, Carty’s terrific pass put centre Godwin through to make it 26 points without reply. Montpellier hit back with their own bonus point score soon after, a Goosen kick bouncing up favourably for Reilhac to take advantage of a Healy slip and run in behind the posts.

South African star Pollard’s conversion was cancelled out by Carty’s well-struck 57th-minute penalty, and Montpellier’s decision to then turn down a simple three points almost cost them as Connacht survived some sustained set-piece pressure.

The visitors were struggling for territory, though, and were not helped by loose kicking and an under-fire lineout. It was Pollard’s midfield break which inspired Montpellier, and lock Nico Janse van Rensburg was able to float a pass out for Reilhac to go over in the corner.

Pollard’s excellent conversion put six points between them, and despite van Rensburg seeing yellow for taking out Porch in the air, his team-mates won a last-gasp turnover to send Connacht to the bottom of the table.

Reflecting on an action-packed sixth round fixture afterwards, Connacht head coach Andy Friend said: “It’s disappointing, another loss for us, but a much better performance. To go into the break at 21-all was quite incredible, and the second half was just a see-saw contest.

“We had our chances at the death and just couldn’t get across (the line). No doubt we have been in a hole mentally, but I feel we worked out of it last week in the performance against Toulouse. There was a lot courage, and it shows the character of the group to get four tries today.

“We haven’t done that in a while, we scored some really good tries, defended bravely on a number of occasions. I thought there were some really good passages where we started to play the football we had been playing previously. We also had a lot of bodies back, and that does make a difference.”