Leicester Tigers denied as Montpellier edge to European Challenge Cup glory
Leicester Tigers were denied a first trophy in eight years after Montpellier edged a thrilling European Challenge Cup final at Twickenham by a 18-17 score.
Henry Wells and Jasper Wiese crossed within 13 minutes of each other at the end of the first half and beginning of the second period, but Steve Borthwick’s side could not hold onto their advantage in front of 10,000 spectators.
Eventually the flair of the big-spending Top14 side paid dividends with two wonderful tries via Vicent Rattez and Johan Goosen and eight points from Benoit Paillaugue enough to give Montpellier a second triumph in Europe’s second-tier competition.
It left Tigers frustrated at not joining city neighbours Leicester City in tasting glory in the capital after the Foxes won the FA Cup at Wembley last weekend, but with a place in the Heineken Champions Cup still up for grabs and a strong mixture of youth and experience, the signs are positive for the Mattioli Woods Welford Road side.
Borthwick had repeatedly talked up the quality of Montpellier, who were able to name three World Cup winning South Africans on their bench, but Tigers were backed by 10,000 fans inside HQ.
After Ellis Genge and Nemani Nadolo made their presence felt during the first 60 seconds, Leicester gave the buoyant crowd something more to cheer in the ninth minute.
George Ford – moments after a wonderful grubber-kick – made no mistake from 42 meters to open their account for the evening, but it was a short-lived lead with the French outfit showing the flair you would expect from a side transformed since the January arrival of Philippe Saint-Andre.
An excellent kick by full-back Anthony Bouthier was bettered by impressive footwork from wing Rattez close to the touchline and he managed to beat Matias Moroni to the bouncing ball to tap down for the first try of the night.
It was a wonderful finish and after scrum-half Paillaugue added a penalty to his conversion from two minutes earlier, Montpellier held a 10-3 advantage after 16 minutes.
Tigers’ frustration was compounded by the early exit of Guy Porter following a bang to his head and doing the basics right had been spoken about in the build-up to Leicester’s first European final in 12 years, but at the midway point of the first half it had not been delivered.
Fulgence Ouedraogo’s departure, having captained Montpellier to success in this tournament in 2016, due to injury was countered by Ford squandering a penalty before Cyle Brink became the latest casualty with Tommy Reffell taking the place of the hobbling South African flanker.
Leicester’s cause did receive a boost on the half-hour mark when the patience of referee Andrew Brace ran out and Alexandre Becognee was sin-binned for an accumulation of infringements.
Immediately Tigers wrestled back the initiative and a thundering driving maul got them within touching distance of the try line and eventually Wells made it over in the 33rd minute before Ford’s successful kick restored parity.
It was Paillaugue’s turn to miss a simple penalty with the Montpellier scrum-half dragging an effort wide and the Top14 side began the second period poorly too.
Sloppiness by Jacques Du Plessis was followed by more ill-discipline from captain Guilhem Guirado, who was shown a yellow for pulling down the maul.
Leicester’s forwards were going through the gears now and after Nadolo had been denied a try by a forward pass, the Tigers did grab their second score of the night with 46 minutes on the clock.
Another driving maul proved unstoppable and Wiese went over with a big helping hand from Tom Youngs, who had been joined on the pitch by brother Ben Youngs to a huge round of applause.
Borthwick was unmoved but the roar of the crowd inside Twickenham told the story. Ford had his radar back for the touchline conversion, but Paillaugue’s penalty made it a four-point game going into the final quarter.
With Montpellier back up to full numbers, a fine burst of pace from wing Gabriel Ngandebe got his side deep inside the Leicester half and Johan Goosen finished off a superb team move with Jan Serfontein and Bouthier heavily involved.
Paillaugue kissed both posts with his kick to ensure the French side held a narrow 18-17 lead and the tension was building with Ford slicing a close-range drop goal attempt wide not long after.
It was a time for cool heads but poor hands from Joe Heyes and Wiese’s failure to offload gave Handre Polland the opportunity to extend the lead, but his long-range penalty flew wide and yet it mattered little with Leicester unable to fashion one final chance.
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments