Bouts of indiscipline hurt Connacht badly
STUART Lancaster is far too diplomatic and has been around too long to criticise referees but he admitted after this Challenge Cup quarter-final loss at Septeo Stadium in Montpellier that he found it ‘very, very unusual’ to have two players binned in the opening six minutes, writes John Fallon.
English referee Christophe Ridley dished out a yellow card to hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin in Montpellier’s first attack of the game after five minutes and when they again went for a lineout in the right corner he sent flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton to the bin and awarded a penalty try.
“Very, very unusual,” said Lancaster when asked for his take on it after the game. “I haven't spoken to Christophe yet. They've also got good maul, I think we tried to defend them all legally. He obviously interpreted it differently, twice.
“And so then you're down to 13 after six minutes, and it's hard then, isn't it? We've got Bundee Aki throwing in the lineout, and you're just trying to navigate that period, which I thought we did really well.”
Connacht managed to limit the damage to 14-3 while down to 13 men, and Tierney-Martin cut the gap with a try on his return but then Shayne Bolton was binned after 27 minutes for a late tackle and Montpellier got their try third after going to the corner with the penalty.
A difficult task from the outset was made just about impossible with those cards, undermining any chance Connacht had of getting on top from the outset and their six-match winning run never looked like being extended.
The good start which Lancaster targeted came in the form of a third minute penalty from Sam Gilbert after scrumhalf Matthew Devine had put Montpellier under pressure with a good kick.
But Connacht failed to deal with the restart, lock Joe Joyce got pinged and Montpellier went straight to the corner with hooker Tierney-Martin binned as they struggled to deal with the lineout maul.
Montpellier repeated the dose, again getting a drive off the lineout and this referee Ridley binned Hurley-Langton and awarded a penalty try. Down seven points and down to 13 men with just six minutes gone, it left Connacht with a mountain to climb.
Aki took on the lineout throws, nailed the first two but when the third went astray they brought on replacement hooker Matthew Victory for a couple of minutes.
Connacht defended gamely but the pressure finally yielded a maul try for hooker Christopher Toloofua to make it 14-3. Tierney-Martin marked his return by finishing a fine try in the right corner after Gilbert made ground down the left and from the recycle Devine and Aki’s quick hands led to Chay Mullins putting Tierney-Martin in to cut the gap to 14-8 after 18 minutes.
Neither team scored when it was then 15 against 15 but a yellow card to Bolton for a late tackle on his opposite number Donovan Taoififenua led to another try from a lineout maul with tight head Mohamed Haouas getting over.
Connacht didn’t help their cause by losing three lineouts in a row and the cheap handover of possession was punished when Argentine out half Domingo Miotti scored and converted after a chip from Wallaby Tom Banks bounced kindly for him, although on another day the review for offside might have gone Connacht’s way.
Connacht started the second half strongly, building through the phases and while Paul Boyle and Devine were stopped, ball recycle was good and Aki sent Sean Naughton in under the posts, with Gilbert’s conversion making 26-15 after 45 minutes
The visitors needed the next score but it was Montpellier who got it after centre Auguste Cadot skipped through four tacklers to score under the posts, with the conversion pushing the lead out to 33-15.
Connacht got a glimmer of hope when replacement hooker Lyam Akram was binned after 56 minutes but unlike Montpellier, they were unable to punish, turning over possession from the five-metre lineout.
There was no way back from there for Connacht and Scottish scrumhalf Ali Price sniped over to make it 40-15 ten minutes from the end.
Connacht battled away and were rewarded when replacement tight head Jack Aungier got in beside the posts four minutes from time but Montpellier turned the screw one final time when replacement tight head Valentin Welsch got in for their seventh try.
Montpellier: T Banks; D Taofifenua, A Cadot (A Vincent 60), L Anyanwu, J Echegaray; D Miotti (T Vincent 46), A Price; B Erdocio (E Forletta 55), C Tolofua (L Akrab 46), M Haouas (V Welsch 55); F Verhaeghe (M Tauleigne 61), T DuGuid; Y Camara (L Nouchi 49), A Becognee, B Vunipola (c).
Connacht: S Gilbert; S Bolton (M Victory 13-15, J Devine 66), C Forde, B Aki, C Mullins; S Naughton (J Carty 49), M Devine (B Murphy 55); B Bohan (P Dooley 49), D Tierney-Martin (Victory 49), S Illo (J Aungier 49), J Joyce (J Murphy 55), D Murray, C Prendergast (capt), S Hurley-Langton (S O’Brien 55), P Boyle.
Referee: Christophe Ridley (England).