Montpellier stun Toulouse
Tricky runner: Thierry Brana evades the tacklers
Champions Toulouse suffered an opening Top 14 shock as they went down 16-11 to an impressive Montpellier side at Yves du Manoir on Tuesday.
The Heineken Cup finalists were below par from their usual high standards, but nothing should be taken away from an intelligent and gutsy display from the hosts at the visitors' bogey ground.
In front of a packed crowd, the opening quarter was dogged by early-season rust as both sides acclimatised to the new laws whilst seemingly running off their well-earned breaks.
However, once that was shaken out of the system, the might of the Heineken Cup finalists eventually told as the chasing Cédric Heymans capitalised fully on an unforced ball-collecting error from wing Olivier Sarramea to open matters on fifteen minutes.
Guy Novès' side kept their gameplan remarkably simple for the class on show as the versatile Jean-Baptiste Elissalde persisted with a bombardment of testing high kicks in the first-half.
Neither of Toulouse's fly-half signings were on display - David Skrela is only just beginning running on a troublesome thigh problem and Fred Michalak is still in Durban with the Sharks. And with Elissalde and Byron Kelleher possibly soon to be competing for the scrum-half berth, Novès is expected to have a welcome headache or two throughout their double-searching season.
Yet Kelleher had to sit through a ten-minute period on the sidelines as he slowed down opposition ball, costing his side three points in the process. That had followed Michel Macurdy's own spell away from the action as the lock was penalised for verbals with the gap now 8-3 in favour of Toulouse.
However, just before the interval came a moment to forget for fly-half Frederico Todeschini as a simple attempt at goal to narrow the scores to 8-6 was pushed wide - much to the disgust of the disgruntled Argentine.
That didn't faze the hosts upon their return though, and defensive pressure on halfway from centre Ollie Smith on Patricio Albacete led to an intercept try for debutant Thierry Brana.
With penalty offences continuing to mar the visitors' efforts from then on, it seemed Pelous' men were struggling to combat their opponents' impressive work-rate as an opening day shock loomed.
Enter another star name in new signing Justin Marshall's introduction to combat All Black rival Kelleher's threat at the base, and the contest was all set for a grandstand finish despite substitute Gaffie du Toit failing to close the gap to two.
But Montpellier sealed the huge victory with a long-range penalty from Irishman Mark McHugh, sending a frustrated and shell-shocked Toulouse home with a losing bonus point.
The scorers:
For Montpellier:
Tries: Brana
Con: Todeschini
Pen: Todeschini 2, MacHugh
For Toulouse:
Tries: Heymans
Pen: Elissalde, Du Toit
Yellow card: Michel Macurdy (Montpellier) - back-chat on 27 minutes, Byron Kelleher (Toulouse) - killing the ball on 40 minutes.
Montpellier: 15 Mark McHugh, 14 Thierry Brana, 13 Ollie Smith, 12 Grant Rees, 11 Olivier Sarramea, 10 Frederico Todeschini, 9 Julien Tomas, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Johan Wasserman, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Hendrikus Hancke, 4 Michel Macurdy, 3 Eugene van Staden, 2 Joan Caudullo, 1 Danie Thiart.
Replacements: 16 Fabien Rofes, 17 Pieter van Niekerk, 18 Bruce Douglas, 19 Mamuka Gorgodze, 20 Jerome Vallee, 21 Justin Marshall, 22 François Trinh-Duc, 23 Frikkie Welsh, 24 Vassili Bost.
Toulouse: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Manu Ahotaeiloa, 13 Florian Fritz, 12 Yannick Jauzion, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Thierry Dusautoir, 6 Jean Bouilhou, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Fabien Pelous (c), 3 Salvatore Perugini, 2 William Servat, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Jean-Baptiste Poux, 18 Romain Millo-Chluski, 19 Yannick Nyanga, 20 Yohan Montes, 21 Gafie du Toit, 22 Bertus Swanepoel.
Referee: Jean-Pierre Matheu
Touch judges: Eric Briquet Campin, René Bordeneuve
Assessor: Michel Sicard, Michel Messan
Television match official: Serge Marzullo