London Irish welcome TOP 14 champions Montpellier Hérault Rugby in the opening game of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup on Friday night. Irish host the Pool B encounter at Gtech Community Stadium on their return to EPCR’s elite competition after over a decade away, with last season seeing them reach the EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-finals. Montpellier reached the quarter-finals of last season’s Heineken Champions Cup and currently sit fifth in the TOP 14, while Irish are second-bottom of the Gallagher Premiership. The game kicks off at 20:00 (UK & Irish time) and is available to watch on BT Sport, beIN SPORTS, SuperSport and FloRugby. Key quotes: Rob Simmons (London Irish lock): “We understand that it’s huge for the club. To have been out of that and now be seeded at the top table of the top teams is a real challenge. As rugby players, we enjoy challenging ourselves and we get to challenge ourselves against some top, top teams.” Arthur Vincent (Montpellier Hérault Rugby centre): "We arrive with a lot of humility. We are still small in this competition. The [Heineken] Champions Cup goes faster, hits harder. As soon as a match is lost, qualification becomes complicated. It's a very high level in all sectors, close to an international Test." https://twitter.com/ChampionsCup/status/1596942604675039232 London Irish

Of the clubs in last season’s EPCR Challenge Cup, London Irish had the most try-scoring possessions which begun with line outs (16).
Two profitable periods of the game for the Exiles last season were between 11 and 20 minutes and in the last 10 minutes of the match. In these time brackets, they scored a competition-high five and nine tries in the 2021/22 EPCR Challenge Cup.
Ollie Hassell-Collins is not only the Gallagher Premiership’s joint-top try scorer this season (eight), but he has also beaten the joint-most defenders (31).

Montpellier Hérault Rugby

Last weekend, Montpellier Hérault Rugby had a three-match winning streak ended by a 19-14 loss to ASM Clermont Auvergne.
This season, Montpellier registered a victory over RC Toulon away from home, however, this is one of only two wins in their most recent eight away matches.
This is the first time that Montpellier have faced London Irish in the Heineken Champions Cup.