Bath Rugby were beaten 32-14 by Montpellier at the Recreation Ground on Saturday in Round One of the 2026/27 Investec Champions Cup

Bath Rugby suffered a poor defeat at home to Montpellier in Round One of the Champions Cup, with Johann van Graan putting the blame on individual mistakes

“We lost this game ourselves”, Johann van Graan said post-match after the 32-12 home defeat to Montpellier at the Rec leaving the ambitious English side facing a tough route through to the knockout stages, and will certainly damage their seeding should they manage to advance.

“It was not good enough, lots of unforced errors.” Van Graan continued.

His Bath side started the game brightly and went into half-time leading by four points after tries from Ollie Lawrence and Arthur Green, with Stuart Hogg crossing for the visitors and Adam Hastings adding a conversion and penalty to make it 14-10 at the internal.

“I thought we started the game really well.”

“We conceded a penalty one metre out in the first half with a clear try-scoring opportunity, which was a big moment.”

The key passage of the game came just after the restart. Bath should have probably led by eleven points when Joe Cokansiga dropped the ball just short of the line with no one near him.

“That was a big moment just after half-time when we lost the ball over the line," van Graan reflected.

“From there on in, we had more than enough scoring opportunities, but unfortunately we didn’t take them.” Van Graan said.

Montpellier did, with a brace of tries for Donovan Taofifenua and single score from Alex Becognee.

Bath looked to have claimed a late try from Josh Bayliss which could have given them a way back into the contest, with the gap on the scoreboard narrowed to four points, 21-25, but the celebrations were cut short due to a TMO check.

“Unfortunately, with a few minutes left, we scored a try, and we got called back for the neck roll by Ted Hill.”

Again, it is unforced errors from our side, which is frustrating.” Van Graan said.

Despite losing the game, Van Graan wasn’t too disappointed in the overall way Bath approached the match.

‘If we didn't create enough, that's a different conversation. We created enough. We need to finish those chances better.”

Bath reached the Champions Cup semi-finals last season and came into the new campaign looking to go after the only trophy van Graan hasn't won at the club, but after losing to Montpellier, reaching the same stage will not be easy.

“It's a very difficult one now. Our next game is away against Cardiff, then we're going to South Africa [to play the Bulls], and we'll finish off with Stade Français at the back end of January,” Van Graan said.

One area where Montpellier had the upper hand was at the breakdown as they suffocated Bath around the park and van Graan certainly didn't make excuses for his side, saying: “We clearly got beaten tonight at the breakdown.”

“We didn't react quickly enough or adapt quickly enough on the field, so, you know, we have to better ourselves.."

Bath now switch their attention to the West Country derby back in the Gallagher PREM with a trip to Kingsholm on Friday night.

Bath haven’t lost away to Gloucester in the PREM since their infamous 64-0 thrashing back in April 2022, and not at all under Johann van Graan, but they'll need a big improvement if they are to beat their fierce rivals when they face them on Friday night.