Montpellier (3) 24
Tries: Welsch, Picamoles, Rees Pen: Trinh Duc Cons: Trinh Duc 3

Northampton (12) 28
Tries: Mayor, Myler, Lamont Pens: Myler 3 Cons: Myler 2

Sean Lamont's late try put Saints out of Montpellier's reach

Northampton eventually saw off Montpellier in France to put themselves within one point of a guaranteed home European Challenge Cup quarter-final.

An early Francois Trinh Duc penalty put the hosts ahead but Saints, already qualified from Pool Two, hit back with Chris Mayor and Stephen Myler tries.

But converted tries by Frikkie Welsch and Louis Picamoles after half time saw the visitors slip behind briefly.

Yet Myler kept kicking his penalties and a Sean Lamont try sealed the win.

Uncapped scrum-half Ben Foden celebrated his England call-up with an instrumental display in which he set up Mayor and Myler's tries before putting Lamont in for his late strike at the Stade Yves du Manoir.

The biggest flashpoint of the match came when Montpellier flanker Jerome Vallee was shown a yellow card in the first half for throwing a punch at Mayor.

Grant Rees' managed to add a last-minute consolation try for the hosts after lamont had put them out of sight.

606: DEBATE What will Saints learn from this?

Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder admitted that while the performance left a lot to be desired, his side would learn from the experience of playing such a match.

"It was a difficult place to come and play, and we are delighted to get the win, but we are a bit disappointed with our performance," he said.

"We forced a bit too much ball and didn't control the ball as well as we would have liked.

"But we have got a young team here that are growing together and it is fantastic for them to come to places like this.

"We are top of the group, we have a home game against Toulon to come and this puts us in a good position."

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