Ospreys suffer hammering at hands of Montpellier as Booth's men taught lesson

The Ospreys suffered their first defeat of this season's Challenge Cup as they got hammered 38-5 by Top 14 base dwellers Montpellier in France.

Only last season Toby Booth's side did the double over Montpellier in the Champions Cup but this was a different story with the Ospreys second best in every department. It must be noted Montpellier have three times the playing budget of the Welsh club while the Ospreys have a long injury list which was made worse when captain Morgan Morris and wing Keelan Giles pulled out before kick-off. Despite this defeat the Ospreys remain in a relatively strong position to qualify from their pool but they were taught a lesson at the GGL Stadium.

After a purposeful start from the visitors Montpellier clicked into gear when George Bridge sliced open the Ospreys defence before offloading to Leo Coly who got tackled just short of the line. Morgan Morse then proceeded to cynically kill the ball at the breakdown, and was shown a yellow card for his act.

The hosts opted to take the penalty quickly with a lovely floating pass from Paolo Garbisi finding an unmarked Bridge who touched down for the opening try. Garbisi converted from the touchline, and there was to be no let up for the Ospreys as Montpellier found space all over the park.

A powerful break from Ben Lam put them on the front foot before he offloaded to Anthony Bouthier who raced down the touchline. Bouthier found Jan Serfontein before a well-timed cross-kick from Garbisi found former All Black wing Bridge who ran in his second try. Montpellier refused to take their foot off the gas, and after another period of pressure dangerous scrum-half Coly sneaked over for their third try.

As if things couldn't get any worse for the Ospreys George