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Montpellier hold off Glasgow to edge Champions Cup thriller
By Harry West
Montpellier mounted a superb fightback and then held off a late surge from Glasgow Warriors to come away from Scotstoun with a 29-22 European Champions Cup victory.
Both sides came into Friday's meeting having lost their opening two matches of the campaign, but Montpellier's four tries secured a maximum return and moved them level with second-placed Exeter Chiefs on eight points in Pool 3.
The Warriors, meanwhile, at least got off the mark with a consolation bonus point but the runaway Pro14 leaders will have expected a whole lot more after taking a 17-5 lead inside half an hour.
Following Finn Russell's early penalty, Montpellier claimed the first try as Aaron Cruden fed Kelian Galletier to go over in the corner.
But the Warriors took what appeared to be a commanding lead as Leonardo Sarto showed neat footwork to cross and George Turner extended the advantage thanks to Russell's excellent pass.
Turner undid some of that good work by seeing yellow for an off-the-ball tackle and Montpellier capitalised on their numerical superiority as Galletier embarked on a stunning break to touch down.
The visitors were two points ahead at the interval after being awarded a penalty try when Jonny Gray was sin-binned for bringing down a rolling maul and that lead was stretched early in the second period through Jacques Du Plessis.
Sarto's second, following Russell's chip and Huw Jones' run and offload, got Glasgow back in it but Francois Steyn slotted a penalty and in the remaining 10 minutes Montpellier survived fierce pressure to prevail.
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Latest Comments
Yet Ethan Blackadder was one of our best against the World Champion Springbok. When he came back to the Crusaders later in the season , he made a huge difference, ( a long with others like Codie Taylor), we nearly made the Play Off's. Ethan has plenty of rugby left in him. His family , Dad Todd Blackadder must be very [proud of him. Todd Blackadder was a 3 time champion captain of the Crusaders, '98, '99 and 2000.An icon in this area. Also twice captain of Canterbury , '97 and 2001 when we won the NPC and Ranfurly Shield winning captain in 2000.
Go to commentsIt's the same criticism of Dmac and Mo'unga as well. Sadly the way the game has been heading recently it's the only way to break down a defence, and a player of Lawrences nature would have a very limited chance at doing that because he's too one dimensional.
Noah Lolesio is your sort of player and that worked OK, but only because his team is far more creative than Englands for example. The highly organized Irish attack was also another that didn't require much from the 10, but that is now changing with Prendergast who is in that league mold like the most new age 10's.
So it is in fact your two which would require even more change to make the most of than Marcus Smith.
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