Montpellier Hérault Rugby

MHR
Full name	Montpellier Hérault Rugby
Nickname(s)	Les Cistes, The Cistuses
Founded	1986
Location	Montpellier, Occitania, France
Ground(s)	Altrad Stadium (Capacity: 15,697)
President	Mohed Altrad
Coach(es)	Vern Cotter
Captain(s)	Fulgence Ouedraogo
League(s)	Top 14
2017–18	1st (playoff finalists)
Official website
	www.montpellier-rugby.com

Montpellier Hérault Rugby (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃.pə.lje eʁo ʁʊɡbi klʊb]) (Occitan: Montpelhièr Erau Rugbi Club) is a professional French rugby union, based in Montpellier, Occitania and named after the Hérault river. The club competes in the top level of the French league system, in the Top 14. They originally played at Stade Sabathé (capacity 5,000) but moved to the Stade Yves-du-Manoir, was for a while known as Altrad Stadium, since renamed the GGL Stadium, in 2007. They wear white and blue.

History

The club was established in 1986 through the merger of two other rugby union clubs, the Stade Montpelliérain and MUC Rugby.

In 1993 the club won the Challenge de l'Espérance.

In 2003 the club became the champion of France's second division national rugby league, the Pro D2. After finishing second in the league table at the end of the 2002–03 season, Montpellier advanced to the playoffs. They defeated Auch in the semi-finals and Tarbes in the finals to win promotion to the Top 14. The following season the club played for the European Shield, and contested the final. Played in May 2004, Montpellier defeated Italian club Viadana 25 points to 19 to win the Shield.

The club barely avoided relegation after the 2006–07 season. Winning only 9 games during a 26-game season, Montpellier found itself in a relegation position with only two games left to play. Thanks to a bonus-point victory in week 25, the team finished just four points ahead of Agen which was relegated to the Pro D2 at the end of the year.

After 2006–07, the club's fortunes began to improve. In June 2007, Fulgence Ouedraogo became the first Montpellier player to play on the French national rugby union team. Also that summer the club's new stadium opened, the Stade Yves-du-Manoir (renamed Altrad Stadium in 2014). In 2007–08 Montpellier enjoyed its first winning season in the Top 14. The club made its next step up the table in 2010–11 when it unexpectedly finished sixth by a single point and made the Top 14 playoffs for the first time. The underdog squad defeated both Castres and Racing Métro to make the championship game where they were defeated 15–10 by Toulouse. Since that season, Montpellier has become a consistent playoff contender, finishing fifth in both 2011–12 and 2012–13 and second on the league table in 2013–14.

Thanks to the club's excellent 2010–11 showing, Montpellier was awarded its first spot in the Heineken Cup tournament for 2011–12. The club returned for the 2012–13 tournament and made the quarter-finals before being eliminated by Clermont. Montpellier returned for the final edition of the Heineken Cup in 2013–14, and are participating in the successor to the Heineken Cup, the European Rugby Champions Cup, in 2014–15.

From 2011 the club has been chaired and funded by Mohed Altrad.^[1]

Honours

Top 14
- Runners-up (2): 2011, 2018
Rugby Pro D2
- Champions: 2003
European Rugby Challenge Cup
- Champions: 2016
European Shield:
- Champions: 2004
Challenge de l'Espérance:
- Champions: 1993

Finals results

Top 14

Date	Winners	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Spectators
4 June 2011	Stade Toulousain	Montpellier Hérault RC	15–10	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	77,000
2 June 2018	Castres Olympique	Montpellier Hérault RC	29–13	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	79,441

European Shield

Date	Winners	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Spectators
21 May 2004	Montpellier Hérault RC	Viadana	25-19	Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma	2,553

European Challenge Cup

Date	Winners	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Spectators
13 May 2016	Montpellier Hérault RC	Harlequins	26-19	Grand Stade de Lyon, Lyon	28.556^[2]

Current standings

2018–19 Top 14 Table

Club

Played

Won

Drawn

Lost

Points For

Points Against

Points Diff.

Tries For

Tries Against

Try Bonus

Losing Bonus

Points

1

Clermont

7

5

0

2

235

130

+105

27

12

3

2

25

2

Stade Français

7

5

0

2

178

114

+64

19

12

2

1

23

3

Lyon

7

4

1

2

175

113

+62

18

10

2

1

21

4

Montpellier

7

4

1

2

196

155

+41

24

19

1

20

5

Castres

7

4

0

3

146

140

+6

14

15

1

2

19

6

Toulouse

7

4

1

2

149

171

–22

17

21

0

1

19

7

Racing

7

4

0

3

175

132

+43

21

10

2

1

18

8

Bordeaux Bègles

7

3

1

3

157

139

+18

16

11

1

2

17

9

La Rochelle

7

4

0

3

173

159

+14

23

20

1

17

10

Pau

7

4

0

3

139

158

–19

12

15

0

1

17

11

Grenoble

7

2

0

5

140

185

–45

11

23

0

3

10

12

Toulon

7

2

0

5

115

169

–54

14

18

1

0

9

13

Agen

7

2

0

5

105

237

–132

10

32

0

1

9

14

Perpignan

7

0

7

115

196

–81

11

19

0

4

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
Points difference in head-to-head matches
Try differential in head-to-head matches
Points difference in all matches
Try differential in all matches
Points scored in all matches
Tries scored in all matches
Fewer matches forfeited
Classification in the previous Top 14 season

Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup.
Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup.
Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Pink background (row 13) will qualify to the Relegation play-offs.
Red background (row 14) will automatically be relegated to Rugby Pro D2.
Final table — source:

Current squad

The Montpellier squad for the 2018–19 season is:^[3]^{[lower-alpha 1]}^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player	Position	Union
Bismarck du Plessis	Hooker	South Africa
Vincent Giudicelli ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Hooker	France
Romain Ruffenach	Hooker	France
Daniel Brennan ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Prop	France
Levan Chilachava	Prop	Georgia
Jannie du Plessis	Prop	South Africa
Grégory Fichten	Prop	France
Antoine Guillamon	Prop	France
Mohamed Haouas	Prop	France
Mikheil Nariashvili	Prop	Georgia
Yvan Watremez	Prop	France
Jacques du Plessis	Lock	South Africa
Nico Janse van Rensburg	Lock	South Africa
Julien Le Devedec	Lock	France
Konstantin Mikautadze	Lock	Georgia
Paul Willemse	Lock	South Africa
Julien Bardy	Back row	Portugal
Yacouba Camara	Back row	France
Martin Devergie	Back row	France
Kélian Galletier	Back row	France
Kévin Kornath ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Back row	France
Wiaan Liebenberg	Back row	South Africa
Fulgence Ouedraogo	Back row	France
Valentin Paget ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Back row	France
Louis Picamoles	Back row	France

Player	Position	Union
Benoît Paillaugue	Scrum-half	France
Ruan Pienaar	Scrum-half	South Africa
Enzo Sanga	Scrum-half	France
Julien Tomas ^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Scrum-half	France
Aaron Cruden	Fly-half	New Zealand
Thomas Darmon ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Fly-half	France
Alexandre Dumoulin	Centre	France
Guillaume Galletier ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Centre	France
Joris Jurand ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Centre	France
Vincent Martin	Centre	France
Yvan Reilhac	Centre	France
Jan Serfontein	Centre	South Africa
François Steyn	Centre	South Africa
Arthur Vincent ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Centre	France
Nemani Nadolo	Wing	Fiji
Timoci Nagusa	Wing	Fiji
Gabriel N'Gandebe ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Wing	France
Benjamin Fall	Fullback	France
Johan Goosen	Fullback	South Africa
Henry Immelman	Fullback	South Africa

Notes:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A young player integrated into the professional squad.^[3]
1 2 Signed as a medical joker.^[4]

References

↑ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-am-the-product-of-a-rape-my-dad-then-killed-my-brother-fl002drv7
↑ http://www.epcrugby.com/matchcentre/33095.php
1 2 "Effectif | MHR". Montpellier Hérault Rugby (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2018.
↑ "Officiel : Julien Tomas de retour en tant que joker médical" (Press release) (in French). Montpellier Rugby. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.

External links

(in French) Montpellier Hérault Rugby Club official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[Young_player-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 A young player integrated into the professional squad.^[3]

[Medical_joker-6] 1 2 Signed as a medical joker.^[4]

[1] ttps://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-am-the-product-of-a-rape-my-dad-then-killed-my-brother-fl002drv7

[2] ttp://www.epcrugby.com/matchcentre/33095.php

[Effectif_|_MHR-3] 1 2 "Effectif | MHR". Montpellier Hérault Rugby (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2018.

[Officiel_:_Julien_Tomas_de_retour_en_tant_que_joker_médical-5] "Officiel : Julien Tomas de retour en tant que joker médical" (Press release) (in French). Montpellier Rugby. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.

Top 14
2018–19 Teams	Agen Bordeaux Castres Clermont Grenoble La Rochelle Lyon Montpellier Pau Perpignan Racing Stade Français Toulon Toulouse
Early years	1892 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19
Interbellum era	1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39
World War II	1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45
Post-war years	1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–80	1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–95	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
Professional era and Top 16	1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05
Top 14	2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19
Trophy	Bouclier de Brennus
Governing body	Ligue Nationale de Rugby

Montpellier – current squad
Forwards	Julien Bardy Yacouba Camara Levan Chilachava Martin Devergie Bismarck du Plessis Jacques du Plessis Jannie du Plessis Grégory Fichten Kélian Galletier Antoine Guillamon Mohamed Haouas Nico Janse van Rensburg Kévin Kornath Julien Le Devedec Wiaan Liebenberg Konstantin Mikautadze Mikheil Nariashvili Fulgence Ouedraogo Valentin Paget Louis Picamoles Romain Ruffenach Yvan Watremez Paul Willemse
Backs	Aaron Cruden Thomas Darmon Alexandre Dumoulin Benjamin Fall Guillaume Galletier Johan Goosen Henry Immelman Joris Jurand Vincent Martin Nemani Nadolo Timoci Nagusa Gabriel N'Gandebe Benoît Paillaugue Ruan Pienaar Yvan Reilhac Enzo Sanga Jan Serfontein François Steyn Julien Tomas Arthur Vincent
Coach	Vern Cotter