The Montpellier team let a precious victory slip away on the Castres pitch, losing 30-26 after dominating a large part of the match. This setback highlights the MHR's consistency difficulties and pushes it to the bottom of the ranking.
Montpellier starts strong but does not materialize
On the stadium lawn Pierre-Fabrethe Montpellier players quickly took the advantage. From the first minutes, the Héraultais showed themselves to be incisive, taking advantage of Castres' indiscipline to take the lead. Maël Moustin distinguished himself in the 9th minute with a superb try after a 30-meter race through three defenders.
Thomas Vincentperfect at the foot, transforms this try then connects the points as the opportunities pass. A second attempt at Madosha Tambwe in the 26th minute, scored with an elegant pass fake, brought the score to 20-3 in favor of the visitors, suggesting that Montpellier was in perfect control of the match.
The Castres awakening and the Hérault resistance
After this first one-way half hour, Castres little by little regains its game. The Tarnais, although muddled and in difficulty at the start of the match, manage to get back together thanks to two tries at the end of the first half, signed Palis et to humorreducing the gap to 20-13 despite two missed conversions. The break marks a turning point for the two teams: while Montpellier rests on its lead, Castres begins to believe in a possible comeback, galvanized by an increasingly noisy public.
In the second half, the Montpellier team struggled to maintain their rhythm and the domination was gradually reversed. Castres gains strength and manages to disturb the opposing defense, which had been solid until then. The attempts to break through continued but came up against the determination of Hérault who managed to maintain a gap of a few points.
The final Castres overthrow in the final seconds
While Montpellier believes it has its first away victory of the season, a final Castres assault changes everything. In the 71st minute, throw away reduced the gap with a try after several unsuccessful attempts, bringing Castres to just three points. The atmosphere becomes unbreathable and each action seems to be able to decide the fate of the meeting.
The end of the match took a dramatic turn for the MHR. While the clock exceeds 80 minutes, Montpellier thinks it has secured the ball in touch, ready to clear to end the match. But Gauthier Maravat seizes the ball in a final burst of brilliance, giving Castres one last chance. A few seconds later, it's the captain Matthew Babillot who dives into the goal, sealing the Tarn victory with a score of 30-26 after the siren. A heartbreaking end for the MHR, who leaves with a defensive bonus point but lets a victory slip away from their grasp.
A necessary truce before a decisive return
With this defeat, Montpellier remains mired at the bottom of the ranking, in 11th place, threatened by French Stadium. Joan Caudullo and his staff will have to take advantage of the break to analyze this new poor performance, marked by moments of inconsistency which have undermined the team's efforts since the start of the season.
The players will go on vacation for a week before returning to training, with the aim of preparing for the next match against the Paloise section on November 23 at GGL Stadium.
I grew up in a family where rugby was at all times. I was at the edge of the pitch when Castres beat Pau and joined the elite, I was in the Stade Pierre Antoine facing Gary Whetton when he did his Haka to celebrate the 1993 Brennus and I was always rocked legends of this sport. Now, it is with XV Ovalie that I intend to extend the adventure. #TeamCO
