Match Centre: Montpellier 21-21 London Irish

Montpellier 21-21 London Irish, GGL Stadium

Cobus Reinach scored the decisive try in the end while Louis Carbonel landed the conversion as Montpellier secured a draw against London Irish in the fourth round of the Heineken Champions Cup at GGL Stadium.

The drawn result meant Montpellier finished the Pool B at seventh place as they move into the round of 16 while London Irish are out of the competition after losing three out of their four matches.

London Irish opened their account in the fifth minute as Adam Coleman crashed over at the back of a lineout maul and Paddy Jackson kicked the conversion to take them to a 0-7 lead.

Even though Montpellier went on the attack for the next phase, London Irish ensured they remained scoreless and instead they doubled their tally with Juan Martin Gonzalez diving from close range and once again Jackson followed with the conversion to ensure the Exiles went into the break with a 0-14 lead.

Declan Kidney's men extended their momentum into the second half as Agustin Creevy scored their third try amid another powerful maul and Jackson improved it as they scored 21 unanswered points.

The first response from the French side came in the 56th minute as Thomas Darmon dotted down as Reinach set him up and they were handed a lifeline as London Irish were down to 14 players temporarily with Jackson sin binned for a cynical infringement.

With the numerical advantage on their side, Montpellier replacement hooker Giudicelli dotted down to bring the gap down to seven points with 12 minutes left in the game.

Just as Exiles though they will get away with a win, Reinach had other plans as he touched down after a quick tap penalty and Carbonel kicked a nerveless conversion to ensure the teams shared the points.

Team line up:

Montpellier: Bouthier, Ngandebe, Darmon, Doumayrou, Rattez, Carbonel, Coly; Chauvac, Paenga-Amosa, Haouas, Chalureau, Willemse (c), Van Rensburg, Camara, Mercer.

Reserves: Guidicelli, Forletta, Lamositele, Doumenc, Reinach, Lucas, Tisseron, Stooke.

London Irish: Cinti, Dykes, Morisi, Jennings, Hassell-Collins, Jackson, Powell; Fischetti, Creevy, Chawatama, Simmons (c), Coleman, Basham, Gonzalez, Cunningham-South.

Reserves: Willemse, Gigena, Hoskins, Munga, Donnell, Englefield, Poolman, Stokes.