LAST UPDATE | 2 Apr 2023

EXETER QUALIFIED FOR the Champions Cup quarter-finals on tries scored when Sunday’s last 16 thriller with Montpellier ended 33-33 after extra time.

French champions Montpellier, reduced to 14 men after No 8 Zach Mercer was sent off, pushed their English hosts all the way, with the sides locked at 26-26 after normal time.

The visitors looked to be heading for the last eight when Louis Carbonel broke the deadlock in the second period of extra time.

But Jack Yeandle crashed over with Joe Simmonds converting in the last minute to draw Exeter level at the end of 100 minutes of breathless rugby.

Yeandle’s try was Exeter’s fifth to Montpellier’s four, sending the 2020 European champions through to a quarter-final with the Stormers after the South African side beat Harlequins 32-28 in Cape Town on Saturday.

“We’ve had a few rollercoasters over the years. I am really pleased for the players. We’ve challenged them a bit this season around some of the highs and lows of performances,” said Exeter boss Rob Baxter.

At Exeter’s Sandy Park home an Englishman opened the scoring, but not one of the hosts, rather Montpellier’s Curtis Langdon, who powered over the line seconds after coming on for Brandon Paenga-Amosa.

Paolo Garbisi converted and then a try from Vincent Rattez put Montpellier 12-0 up with only seven minutes on the clock.

Exeter regrouped and cut into that deficit when Scott Sio touched down with Joe Simmonds adding the conversion.

Simmond’s older brother Sam had Exeter back level after the hour mark, with Joe converting to make it 14-12.

A deliberate knock-on by Henry Slade earned the Exeter centre 10 minutes in the sin bin with Garbisi kicking the resulting penalty to put Montpellier back in front by a point at half-time.

Montpellier had to play the final 30 minutes of regulation time down a man after Mercer’s red card for a tackle to the head of Christ Tshiunza.

Garbisi extended their lead with a 53rd minute penalty but that was cancelled out seconds later when Sam Simmonds found Tom Wyatt who went on to score an eye catching try.

Josh Iosefa-Scott then crossed over and after a successful conversion Exeter found themselves eight points clear.

With four minutes of normal time left on the clock Lenni Nouchi’s touchdown lifted Montpellier to within three points of Exeter, Garbisi’s injury time penalty leaving the teams inseparable at 26-26.

With the winner eventually determined by tries countback Montpellier will rue the two touchdowns they had disallowed in the second half.

Baxter hailed Sam Simmonds, the Exeter No. 8 who will join Montpellier after the World Cup later this year.

“He looked almost impossible to handle sometimes,” said Baxter.

Five-time European champions Toulouse downed the Bulls 33-9 to set-up a last-eight clash with the Sharks, another South African side, next weekend.

Lock forward Emmanuel Meafou, winger Matthis Lebel and flanker Thibaud Flament were the try-scorers for the French side

Thomas Ramos was perfect with the boot, succeeding with all of his seven kicks at goal.

Three-time winners Saracens will next face defending champions La Rochelle after seeing off Ospreys of Wales 35-20.

Saracens pounced on a late blunder by the Ospreys which proved to be pivotal in the game.

With a tight round-of-16 tie locked at 20-20 approaching the final 10 minutes, Rhys Webb took a quick line-out around his 22 only for the ball to fall straight into the arms of Duncan Taylor.

It was Taylor’s first touch of the afternoon having just arrived as replacement for Alex Lozowksi and the former Scotland centre strolled over before being mobbed by his team-mates.

– © AFP 2023 

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