Gloucester come from behind to beat Montpellier and set up Bath clash

The Gallagher Premiership play-off contenders dug deep to recover from a 14-point deficit after just nine minutes. Tries from Anthony Bouthier and Hugo Reus, who converted both, gave Montpellier a flying start. But Gloucester weathered the storm and drew level following touchdowns by Wales international Freddie Thomas and his fellow forward Cameron Jordan.

Santi Carreras kicked two conversions, only for Montpellier to regain the lead through a Reus penalty on the stroke of half-time. Gloucester had scrum-half Caolan Englefield yellow-carded early in the second period, yet they regained the lead while he was still off the pitch when Ruan Ackermann crossed for try number three and Carreras again converted. The visitors held on to their advantage and Carreras made sure of victory when he kicked a penalty in the last minute to set up an intriguing all-Premiership encounter.



South African challengers the Bulls moved into the last eight, meanwhile, after a 32-22 win at Bayonne, with David Kriel and Marco van Staden among their try-scorers. Connacht overcame Cardiff 35-20 in Galway to set up a home quarter-final against Racing 92 next weekend. Tries from Matthew Devine, Sean Jansen, Finn Treacy, Shayne Bolton and Paul Boyle saw the Irish province through.

Cardiff responded with tries from Rey Lee-Lo, Ben Thomas and Josh Adams as the Welsh visitors rallied in an entertaining affair. Connacht full-back Mack Hansen and Cardiff lock Josh McNally were both sent to the sin bin in the first half. With Ireland centre Bundee Aki impressive, Connacht built on their 14-8 interval lead and Cardiff’s fate was sealed by a yellow card to centre Thomas and a final try from replacement flanker Boyle.

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