| Bath: (10) 10 |
| Tries: Dunn Cons: Spencer Pens: Spencer |
| Montpellier: (16) 19 |
| Tries: Camara Cons: Paillague Pens: Paillaugue 3, Pollard |
Montpellier produced a superb second-half defensive display to come away from Bath with a 19-10 win in their European Challenge Cup semi-final.
Tom Dunn's early Bath try was cancelled out by a Yacouba Camara score as the French side led in the first half.
Bath failed to take a number of good chances on the Montpellier line with the French side reduced to 14 men for a period after the break.
Handre Pollard's last-second penalty ensured the win for the French side.
The ball was in the Montpellier 22 for 29% of the second half, but time and again Bath's mistakes and Montpellier's defensive excellence stopped the English side from making a first European final since 2014.
Bath had made their intentions known immediately as two charge downs forced a Montpellier lineout on their own five metre line which Alexandre Becognee knocked on, and a few phases later Dunn went over from close range for the opening try.
Early on, Bath's tactical kicking game was excellent and they were aggressive at the breakdown against a powerful French side, but their discipline started to desert them as Montpellier began to take command - Benoit Paillaugue landed a 20th-minute penalty either side of a pair of three-point misses for the French side.
Scrum-half Paillaugue's dinked kick set up Vincent Rattez who put Camara in for his side's sole try before Ben Spencer responded with a penalty for Bath.
Paillaugue kicked two more penalties for a six-point lead at the break and hit the post 10 minutes after the restart with another attempt.
Bath finally got some offensive momentum five minutes later with numerous phases on the Montpellier line - after three penalties prop Enzo Forletta was sin-binned, but Bath could not turn the pressure on the visitors' line into a score.
Bath's lineout was poor as any good they did was swiftly thrown away while Montpellier made crucial defensive gains at the breakdown at key moments before South Africa fly-half Pollard - who came on as a replacement for his first appearance since rupturing knee ligaments in October - confirmed victory with his late penalty.
Montpellier will play Leicester in the final at Twickenham on Friday 21 May after the Tigers beat Ulster 33-24 on Friday night.
A crowd of 10,000 will attend the final following the decision to move both the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals from Marseille because of the impact of Covid-19.
Bath: Watson; Cokanasiga, Joseph, Redpath, Muir; Bailey, Spencer; Schoeman, Dunn, Stuart, McNally, Ewels (capt), Faletau, Underhill, Mercer
Replacements: Walker, Bhatti, Thomas, Stooke, Bayliss, Reid, Chudley, Clark
Montpellier: Bouthier; Tisseron, Goosen, Vincent, Rattez; Lozowski, Paillaugue; Forletta, Guirado (capt), Haouas, Verhaeghe, Willemse, Janse van Rensburg, Camara, Becognee
Replacements: Du Plessis, Fichten, Lamositele, Duguid, Ouedraogo, Reinach, Pollard, Martin
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland).
Touch judges: Frank Murphy (Ireland), Chris Busby (Ireland).
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland).
Source: BBC Rugby Union News