Harlequins 19 Montpellier 26
Harlequins badly wanted to give the departing Conor O’Shea a memorable send-off and, in some respects, they did so. Neither the desired result nor a place in next season’s Champions’ Cup were ultimately achieved but Quins gave their heart and soul to the cause from start to finish.
O’Shea, as he departs to take over the Italian national team, will forever be proud of their spirit in adversity. In the end, though, there proved to be a gulf that even the unquenchable spirit of Chris Robshaw and his colleagues could not close.
Montpellier are a seriously powerful team when they put their minds to it and in the shape of their replacement winger Jesse Mogg they possessed the cutting edge that Quins lacked. The Australian scored two tries, one in each half, and the deadly boot of the South African fly-half Demetri Catrakilis did the rest.
Quins, though, unquestionably earned their opponents’ respect and might even have mounted a grandstand finish had Tim Visser been able to hold on to Mike Brown’s perfect cross-kick at the start of the final quarter. Two missed penalties from Nick Evans did not help either, while Joe Marler may have cause to regret a flying lunge at Jannie du Plessis that could possibly attract further disciplinary scrutiny.
Harlequins knew from the moment their opponents were confirmed that the final would be a serious physical examination with no fewer than seven South Africans in the Montpellier squad. Such has been the influx that the Languedoc region is now referred to in French rugby circles as the Languebok and three of Jake White’s tight five answer to the surname of Du Plessis.
No one, though, has ever had cause to question a South African forward’s commitment and Bismarck Du Plessis and friends have been the form side in the Top 14 these past couple of months. They even stuck 60 points on the Champions’ Cup finalists Racing 92 in March and, with Pierre Spies and Frans Steyn roaming free, this was never going to be a relaxing soirée beside the Rhone.
There was a decent atmosphere, too, despite the impressive, new 59,000-capacity stadium being only half-full. The majority were supporting Montpellier but heartfelt respect was shown on all sides before kick-off during a minute’s silence in memory of the Quins prop Seb Adeniran-Olule, who was killed in a road accident this week.
In terms of additional motivation Quins also had the memory of last Saturday’s grim 62-point hiding at home by Exeter to shake from their systems. Making eight changes to the starting line-up, though, was the easy bit: the challenge of winning in France, against “monster” opponents to borrow O’Shea’s phrase, demanded a whole different level of performance and attitude.
It did no harm that, in the referee, John Lacey, Montpellier found themselves dealing with a referee not obviously speaking their language, be it French or Afrikaans, at scrum-time. Despite a slightly shaky first quarter, not least for the full-back Mike Brown, Quins were still level at 3-3 at the 20-minute mark, with the opposing full-back Benjamin Fall an early departure with a pulled hamstring.
On came the former Wallaby full-back Mogg, another southern hemisphere recruit lured north by more than the occasional glass of rose. Within four minutes he had repaid a sizeable chunk of that investment after Marvin O’Connor had cleverly engineered an overlap and Anthony Tuitavake had delivered the scoring pass to reward an initial break from Paul Willemse. Catrakilis landed the angled conversion, leaving Quins badly in need of an uplifting riposte.
A brace of penalties from Evans in the space of four minutes supplied it and, with Chris Robshaw battling determinedly to contain the lively Montpellier captain, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Quins returned to the dressing-room at half-time trailing by only 13-9. These occasions are not just about skill; doggedness and resilience, if anything, are even more prized commodities.
It boiled down to whether Montpellier had the patience and composure to rise above Quins’ defiance and their frustration at the officiating. A furious Timoci Nagusa hurled the ball against the goalpost after a spectacular breakout had been rendered irrelevant by a penalty to Quins but, as it turned out, the French side did not have long to wait for their fortunes to improve.
Quite how their English opponents withstood a prolonged spell of forward pressure close to their own line was remarkable but, eventually, so many defenders had been sucked in that the space out wide was impossible to cover. A teasing cross-kick was aimed in the direction of the athletic Mogg and, with the airborne Jamie Roberts challenging him, the former Brumbie somehow managed to touch the ball down legally . The moment it was awarded any prospect of a glorious O’Shea swansong was always remote despite a 72nd- minute consolation score from Marland Yarde.
Harlequins: Brown; Yarde, Lowe, Roberts, Visser; Evans (Botica, 69), Care (capt); Marler, Gray (Ward, 56), Jones (Sinckler, 50), Horwill, Twomey, Robshaw, Wallace (Clifford, 55), Easter.
Try: Yarde Pens Evans 3, Botica Con Botica
Montpellier: Fall (Mogg 18); Nagusa, Tuitavaké (Ebersohn, 68), Steyn, O'Connor; Catrakilis, White (Paillaugue, 44); Nariashvili (Watremez, 68), B Du Plessis (Ivaldi, 73), Jan Du Plessis (Kubriashvili, 58), Jac Du Plessis (Timani, 73), Willemse, Ouedraogo (capt), Qera, Spies (Galletier, 61).
Tries: Mogg 2 Cons Catrakilis 2 Pens Catrakilis 4
Referee: J Lacey
