Montpellier 40-26 Harlequins: Quins fight back after slow start

Zach Mercer has denied recent reports that he might return to the Premiership at the end of the season

Harlequins fought back to salvage their Champions Cup quarter-final hopes after falling 34 points behind at one stage away to Montpellier in the first leg.

The hosts ran in four unanswered tries in the first half with English number eight Zach Mercer crossing twice.

Prop Titi Lamositele barged over early in the second half and it seemed the tie might already be over.

But tries from George Hammond, Andre Esterhuizen and Joe Marchant, and Louis Lynagh's interception, cut the deficit.

The English champions will need a far better start at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday, however, if they are to overhaul the French Top 14 leaders' 14-point advantage and make the last eight on aggregate score.

Mercer masterclass gives Montpellier the upper hand

Mercer, who was named player of the match, was watched in action by England coach Eddie Jones earlier this season despite currently being ineligible as he is playing overseas

With England head coach Eddie Jones away working in Japanese club rugby, it was his French counterpart Fabien Galthie with a front-row seat at the GGL Stadium to admire Mercer's work in the first half.

The 24-year-old, who left Bath for a two-year contract last summer, has been key to his side's climb to the Top 14 summit.

Up against newly-capped Quins number eight Alex Dombrandt, he demonstrated exactly what England have been missing.

He showed off nimble feet and deft hands, side-stepping Huw Jones, bursting away from the base of a scrum and offloading to Cobus Reinach from the floor, before added two tries to his highlight reel.

His first came with a pick-and-go through a gaping hole after his own break had put the visitors on the back foot.

His second came just before the break as he motored into the corner for a breakaway score as Jones gave chase in vain.

Harlequins only had themselves to blame for Montpellier's other two first-half scores.

After 22 scoreless minutes, Marcus Smith's terrible, tentative cross-field kick inside his own half was pounced on by wing Gabriel Ngandebe for a stroll-in score.

Then, with Esterhuizen in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on in the build-up to Mercer's first try, scrum-half Danny Care kicked straight into team-mate Joe Marler, giving opposite number Reinach broken field and space to score.

When Lamositele muscled through two minutes into the second half to score the third try of Esterhuizen's sin-bin period, there seemed no way back.

Harlequins again demonstrate bouncebackability

Lynagh's pace gave Quins a route back into the game

Harlequins team-talk under the posts would doubtless have centred on their ability to pull off miraculous comebacks.

They had fought back from 13 and 14 points down respectively to beat Castres and Cardiff in the pool stages.

Last year's run to the Premiership title featured an extraordinary recovery from 28 points down away to Bristol in the play-off semi-finals.

With no option but to chase the game and run the ball once again, suddenly the decisions came easier to the visitors.

Hammond won the race to Smith's well-weighted kick before Esterhuizen dunked the ball down at the end of a typically powerful surge to make it 34-12 just after the hour.

Montpellier had switched in Springbok fly-half Handre Pollard off the bench in place of young Italian starter Paolo Garbisi to try to reassert control.

But Quins had momentum and the accuracy they were sorely missing in the first 40 minutes.

Marchant raced onto a flat pass from Lynagh's break for a converted try to further reel in the hosts before Lynagh picked off Pollard's pass to race under the sticks in the 79th minute.

Montpellier and Pollard had the final word with a penalty with the clock in the red, but the last rites are far from read over Quins' European campaign.

Harlequins head coach Tabai Matson: "To be down 14-0 at home in the second leg is probably not a bad result on the back of where we were.

"I'm trying to be optimistic, but we are only half-way and there is absolutely a belief that we can pull a rabbit out of the hat next week.

"Their defence was exceptional, but we missed opportunities to kick and put some more variation into our game. Even at the end of the game our breakdown was well off the pace. Those things will be a massive focus this week in particular."

Montpellier number eight Zach Mercer: "We will enjoy this win, but we've got to go away next week and we know we've got a big challenge ahead of us.

"It was frustrating watching the end of the game, but Harlequins have got a reputation and they came back and scored some points.

"We've got a lot to improve on, but we'll certainly take scoring 40 points against the English champions."

Montpellier: Bouthier; Rattez, Darmon, Doumayrou, Ngandebe; Garbisi, Reinach; Forletta, Paenga-Amosa, Lamositele; Chalureau, Willemse, Janse van Rensburg, Galletier, Mercer.

Replacements: Giudicelli, Rodgers, Haouas, Dakuwaqa, Aprasidze, Pollard, Tisseron, Verhaeghe.

Harlequins: Jones; Lynagh, Marchant, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Marler, Walker, Collier; Symons, Tizard; Hammond, Lawday, Dombrandt (capt.)

Replacements: Gray, Kerrod, Louw, Jurevicius, Wallace, Gjaltema, Edwards, David