14-man Montpellier down Castres
Last Updated: 11/12/16 4:01pm
Montpellier fought back from going down to 14-men with an inspired second-half performance to beat Castres 32-14 in the Champions Cup.
Prop Davit Kubriachvili was given his marching orders in the 18th minute after he charged into the ruck with his shoulder and caught Castres lock Thibault Lassale in the face.
Montpellier were already trailing 8-3 after a Rory Kockott penalty and an interception try by winger Remi Grosso, who plucked a long floating pass from Jesse Mogg out of the air and raced away to score.
Castres looked to have the better of their Top 14 rivals as they went into a 11-3 lead after another Kockott penalty, however, on the stroke of half-time, Montpellier hit back with their first try.
Their forwards drove to the line from a five metre line-out and created an opening on the blindside for winger Timoci Naguca to barge his way over. Francois Steyn added the conversion to send Montpellier into the break 10-11 down.
Despite replacement fly-half Benjamin Urdapilleta kicking Castres further ahead with a penalty after the re-start, the rest of the half belonged to Montpellier.
The home side rolled up their sleeves in the second half and dominated the game as their seven-man pack took control. Like the first try, the second and third came from driving line-outs with flanker Kelian Galletier and hooker Shalva Mamukashvili going over.
Nic White then added the bonus-point try as he regathered his own kick after a good break from Naguca down the wing.
Castres threw everything into the final ten minutes but when Alexandre Bias was sin-binned with eight minutes to go, the fight went out of them and Montpellier claimed the spoils.
