JAMES HARRINGTON

FRENCH COLUMN

A week after ripping out their coaching set-up and employing an Etch-a-Sketch style reset to their season, Montpellier officially hit the panic button last weekend, following their seventh defeat in a row.
New director of rugby Bernard Laporte, new manager Patrice Collazo, and centre Thomas Darmon all individually admitted that the club – at the foot of the Top 14 table, the lanterne rouge position in the poetic French sports argot – was in ‘survival mode’ following the 26-21 loss at home to promoted Oyonnax.
There’s good reason for concer n. The side at the...