Montpellier offers itself a third Top 14 final

After those lost in 2011 and 2018, the MHR offered a third final at the Stade de France, this Saturday. Montpellier rugby players have indeed thwarted all predictions, eliminating Bordeaux, in the semi-finals of Top 14.

In an Allianz Riviera where several thousand supporters had made the trip, the men of PSA first conceded the opener, before registering a superb first attempt by Vincent Rattezon the left, along the touchline, well served by the Italian Paolo Garbisi, who never hid and who delivered a high quality performance.

Then, Mathieu Jalibert responded by going to flatten after a loss of ball from Guilhem Guirado, but the cold-blooded drops of his partners Paolo Garbisi and Anthony Bouthier allowed the MHR to turn in the lead, by three points, at the break (13-10). The second period, less intense and more electric than the first, finally took time to settle, and it was then that the hero of the second act emerged.

Gela Aprasidze: deliverance

A 19-10 victoryon arrival, against a formation that it had not beaten this season, and at the end of a very disputed match, where it was necessary to wait the last ten minutes to see the Hérault club fly away, thanks at two monumental penalties signed Gela Aprasidzewho had just replaced a formidable Benoît Paillaugue.

Because let’s be clear, this victory is not only that of the Georgian, but indeed that of a collective with a huge heartadmittedly not always precise in the face of a UBB which has not been able to convert much Hérault waste into Bordeaux points, but endowed with courage and a unfailing solidarity, with a defense that never gave up.

The MHR, which wishes at all costs offer the starters the most beautiful of outingsin particular Benoît Paillague, Guilhem Guirado and Fulgence Ouedraogo, will therefore challenge Castres, next Friday, in the capital, as four years ago, to try to win the first shield of Brennus in its history.

REACTIONS

Philippe Saint-André, manager of the MHR, savors the victory

The film of the evening – Bertrand Queneutte with Olivier Azam, Philippe Saint-André, Benoît Paillaugue and Anthony Bouthier.

MHR supporters overjoyed, at the microphone of Dorian Bonzom

Philippe Saint-André appeals to the people, for the Stade de France

A supporter of the MHR in tears, at the microphone of Dorian Bonzom.

The PSA manager explains his difficult choice not to have retained Fulgence Ouedraogo.

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