Bath 14 Montpellier 32

The wait for a first win by a Prem side in the opening round of the Champions Cup continues as Bath crashed to a shock defeat by Montpellier at the Recreation Ground.

Johann van Graan’s side, who reached the semi-finals of last season’s competition, fielded a strong line-up, but found themselves overpowered and out-thought by last season’s Top 14 finalists.

Montpellier, who won the Challenge Cup with victory over Ulster in last season’s final, look like a serious outfit. This was not their full-strength side, but they managed to close out a comfortable victory with some familiar names central to Bath’s downfall.

Stuart Hogg, the former Exeter and Scotland full-back, opened the scoring for Montpellier, while the Scottish half-back pairing of Ali Price and Adam Hastings pulled the strings superbly. Hastings kicked two penalties and landed three conversions, while former England No 8 Billy Vunipola added significant power from the bench.

Bath had their moments, with tries by Ollie Lawrence and the excellent Arthur Green, but found themselves boxed in by Montpellier’s physicality and their ability to exploit surprising inaccuracy by Bath.

It was the fourth defeat for English sides in the competition on Saturday, with Gloucester’s draw against Bordeaux Bègles on Friday night the best result so far.

Santiago Carreras has provided an X-factor for Bath so far this season and his footballing skills carved open the Montpellier defence as early as the second minute, with his cross-kick to Lawrence seemingly leading to the opening score. The centre flicked the ball up to Max Ojomoh to finish in the corner, but the TMO spotted that Lawrence had lost the ball forward in the tackle.

Still, Bath persisted with attacking the blind side to keep a check on their defensive line speed, but it led to some sloppy moments that allowed Montpellier to gain entry into the Bath 22 and, against the run of play, the French side were able to take the lead.

When Hastings miscued his cross-kick there were jeers from the Bath supporters, but Dimitri Delibes was able to maintain possession. He ran a superb arc and after a neat recycle and swift hands, Hogg finished in the corner.

Finn Russell combined twice with No 8 Green to smash holes in the Montpellier defence and, after some superlative phases, the Bath fly-half was able to create the space for Lawrence to power over from close range, with his conversion levelling the score.

The swing in momentum continued as Green underscored his status as one of the club’s rising stars. The 22-year-old served up a brilliant side-step from a pick-up at the base of a ruck to glide over for Bath’s second try.

One massive hit by Bath lock Will Jeanes exemplified the hosts’ physicality in the collisions in the first half. And although the home side conceded a penalty, the fact that Montpellier opted to kick the points would have been regarded as a positive result by Bath.

Still Van Graan’s side had to dig deep to prevent the French from scoring again before half-time, with Hogg showing tremendous skill under pressure to retain possession. Following a subsequent line break by lock Lenni Nouchi, Bath looked certain to concede only for prop Wilfrid Hounkpatin to knock the ball on.

Bath squandered the opportunity to extend their lead when, after a succession of scrum infringements by Montpellier in their 22, the ball was moved wide, but Joe Cokanasiga was unable to hold Russell’s pass when he had the line at his mercy.

Montpellier made Bath pay for their profligacy when Lennox Anyanwu won a brilliant turnover penalty and, from the line-out, Hastings dummied before neat hands put Donovan Taofifenua over in the corner.

Back came Bath but, despite spending a sustained period in the Montpellier 22, they failed to come away with points, and Montpellier edged further ahead when Hastings added his second penalty after some mesmeric offloading.

The decisive blow looked to come when Taofifenua picked off a pass by Russell from a strike play from a Bath line-out. Hastings’s conversion stretched the lead to 11 points.

Bath chased hard for a way back into the game, and looked to have done so when Dan Frost pounced on a loose pass following a Montpellier line-out and Josh Bayliss showed superb determination to power his way over for a try. But the TMO spotted a neck roll by Ted Hill in the build-up and to the frustration of the Bath supporters, it was chalked off.

Montpellier looked to turn the screw, winning a penalty from a loose pass by Bath from a poorly executed line-out. Hastings kicked to the corner, the French side kept the ball tight to build more pressure and it paid off. While Russell was lucky not to receive a yellow card for knocking on a pass, Alex Bécognée powered over from close range to seal a comprehensive victory.

This result followed Gloucester’s draw with Bordeaux Bègles on Friday night and defeats for Sale Sharks, Saracens and Bristol Bears on Saturday, capping a miserable 24 hours for Prem clubs.

Saracens’ mixed start to the season continued as they lost 45-36 at struggling Irish province Connacht. The London club picked their big names for the trip to Galway, with Maro Itoje, Owen Farrell and Jamie George all in the starting XV, but their defence could not contain Connacht’s runners.

Both sides showed brilliant skills in an end-to-end, 13-try thriller. But while Saracens crossed through Sione Va’enuku (two), Noah Caluori, Nick Tompkins, Rotimi Segun and Elliot Daly, the hosts notched seven tries, with Cian Prendergast and Ciaran Frawley both scoring two apiece. Farrell also missed the conversion for Daly’s try, which meant Saracens missed out on a losing bonus point, too.

Meanwhile, Bristol suffered a 49-12 thumping by the Stormers in Cape Town.

The home side were on top from the start, with Seabelo Senatla and Leolin Zas crossing in the first 15 minutes. Bristol’s Joe Owens and Stormers’ Jonathan Roche then exchanged tries before the half-hour mark.

A 20-minute red card for JJ Kotze and a yellow card for Zas gave the Bears a significant numerical advantage, which they capitalised on when Sol Moody scored his first try for the club earlier in the second half. However, Roche then scored his second and the final 10 minutes were a horror show for Bristol as they conceded three more tries.

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