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The Dragons fell agonisingly short in their bid to reach a first ever Challenge Cup final as they went down to a 18-12 defeat to Montpellier.
Filo Tiatia’s side threw the kitchen sink at Montpellier but in the end will regret butchering a try in the first two minutes of the game when David Richards’ pass could not find the unmarked Thomas Young.
This was a huge effort from the Welsh club who have taken big strides forward this season but in the end Montpellier had a little too much power for the Dragons.
Tyler Duguid and Alexis Bernadet scored Montpellier’s tries while Thomas Vincent kicked eight points. Aneurin Owen claimed both of the Dragons’ tries while Angus O’Brien contributed two points from the kicking tee.
The Dragons very nearly made the perfect start with a lovely tip on pass at the point of contact from Owen sending Richards racing through a gap.
Richards made the Montpellier 22 but his pass to the unmarked Thomas Young was not good enough and as a result the Dragons had butchered an open goal.
Vincent opened the scoring with a straightforward shot at goal but the hosts found the Dragons defence a tough nut to crack. On one occasion the Montpellier driving lineout got brought down just short of the Dragons line but after a few strong carries Young won a penalty at the breakdown.
The Dragons looked dangerous with ball in hand and after Tinus de Beer exploded through a gap in the Montpellier 22 his pass got intercepted by Tom Banks who sent Auguste Cadot clear.
A try looked certain but a terrific tackle by Rio Dyer succeeded in holding Cadot up over the try line.
But Montpellier hit back with some lovely handling from Lenni Nouchi, Vincent and Cadot putting second-row Duguid over for the opening try.
The Dragons were not prepared to give in and a chip over the top of the Montpellier defence put Banks under pressure. The former Wallabies full-back got tackled over the line by Richards but lost possession of the ball. Dragons centre Owen reacted the quickest to tap the ball down for the Welsh club’s first try.
But Vincent extended Montpellier’s lead to 13-5 at the stroke of half-time with another successful penalty. Montpellier’s power game was very prominent in the early stages of the second-half but the Dragons defended well.
When the Welsh club finally worked their way into the Montpellier 22 it resulted in the home side’s Georgian loosehead Nika Abuladze getting sent to the sin bin for an intentional knock-on.
O’Brien made a costly error when he knocked the ball forward under very little pressure to hand the hosts a scrum in the Dragons 22. Montpellier No 8 Lenni Nouchie powered through some Dragons tacklers before Bernadet scored from short-range.
The Dragons refused to throw in the towel and made it a one-score game again when Owen hit a tremendous line to slice open the Montpellier defence to score.
Tiatia’s side threw the kitchen sink at Montpellier in the final stages of the game but couldn’t quite get over the line.
Montpellier: Banks; Taofifenua, Cadot, Anyanwu, Rates; Vincent, Bernadet; Erdocio, Riccitelli, Welsch, Beard, DuGuid, Tauleigne, Becognee, Nouchi (capt).
Replacements: Akrab, Abuladze, Haouas, Y Camara, Masibaka, Baraer, Miotti, Darmon.
Dragons: O’Brien (cc); Richards, Inisi, Owen, Dyer; de Beer, Armstrong; Martinez, Dee, Coleman, Douglas, Carter (co-capt), Woodman, Young, Wainwright.
Replacements: Coghlan, W Jones, D Lewis, S Davies, Keddie, M Lloyd, Paea, Anderson.
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Filippo Russo (Italy)
TMO: Olly Hodges (Ireland).
