Bridge Brace leads Montpellier to Ospreys win
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Right winger George Bridge and replacement inside centre Auguste Cadot scored a brace each as Montpellier Hérault Rugby ran over six tries in an emphatic victory over Ospreys.
The French hosts capitalised on Ospreys’ number eight Morgan Morse receiving an early yellow card with Bridge scoring his first effort on 10 minutes, converted by fly-half Paolo Garbisi from a tight angle.
Bridge scored his second try of the afternoon on 21 minutes after left winger Ben Lam found his run inside the opposition’s 22 for an unconverted effort.
Montpellier Hérault Rugby had a third try without answer ten minutes later as inside centre Jan Serfontein’s offload found scrum-half Leo Coly to score and Garbisi converted.
Finding themselves three tries down Ospreys also lost influential outside centre George North after a yellow card infringement.
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Once restored to 15 men the Welsh visitors scored their first points after half-time courtesy of an unconverted try by scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams.
However, Montpellier Hérault Rugby sealed the bonus point with a fourth score on 57 minutes when a driving maul resulted in replacement hooker Vano Karkadze scoring and Garbisi kicked his third conversion of the afternoon.
The hosts were out of sight with 15 minutes remaining as replacement inside centre Auguste Cadot held off three tackles before dotting down, converted by Louis Foursans-Bourdette.
Montpellier Hérault Rugby had a sixth try with four minutes remaining with replacement Cadot running in alone for an unconverted score as the game ended 38-5, Ospreys finishing with 14 men as Harri Houston was sent to the bin late on.