Montpellier Herault Rugby enters the 2026-27 season in a very different position from a club simply trying to find its way back toward the top of French rugby. After finishing second in the Top 14 regular season, reaching the league final and winning the EPCR Challenge Cup, MHR has given itself something more demanding than hope: expectations.
The significance of 2025-26 goes beyond the trophies Montpellier did or did not lift. Four years after winning the 2022 Top 14 championship, Montpellier again showed it could sustain a season at the sharp end of the domestic competition while also succeeding in Europe. An attack that produced 824 points and 101 tries in the Top 14 gave MHR a clear identity.
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Now comes the more difficult part. Montpellier has strengthened and reshaped its squad after a season that ended one victory short of another Top 14 title. The question entering 2026-27 is no longer whether MHR can return to the playoffs. It is whether Montpellier can turn last season's progress into something sustainable — and perhaps turn a finalist into a champion.
Montpellier's 2025-26 Top 14 Season Set The Stage
The final Top 14 table tells much of the story. Montpellier finished second with 82 table points and a 17-1-8 record, scoring 824 points while allowing 587. Its 101 tries reflected an attacking side capable of creating separation from opponents rather than simply surviving close matches.
But the importance of the season becomes clearer when the domestic and European campaigns are considered together.
Montpellier navigated the Top 14 playoffs by beating Castres 36-33 in the quarterfinal and Stade Français 25-15 in the semifinal, earning its first trip back to the league final since the championship season of 2022.
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Toulouse ultimately stopped MHR at Stade de France, winning the final 28-20. Montpellier's second-half comeback was not enough to overcome the deficit, leaving the club with the uncomfortable combination of an excellent domestic season and the knowledge that it had come within one match of the Brennus.
Europe provided a very different ending.
Montpellier went unbeaten through its Challenge Cup campaign and overwhelmed Ulster 59-26 in the final, scoring nine tries. That performance was perhaps the clearest expression of what MHR had become: a side with enough forward power to establish control and enough attacking ambition to turn that control into tries.
The result was a season that changed the standard for what should follow.
How Montpellier Got Here
Montpellier's 2022 Top 14 championship remains the essential reference point for understanding the club's current position.
That was MHR's first Top 14 title, establishing a benchmark that makes subsequent seasons inevitably judged against championship contention. The 2025-26 campaign was therefore significant because Montpellier once again reached the league final while adding another European trophy.
The Challenge Cup victory was the club's third in the competition, following titles in 2004 and 2021.
There also has been significant change in the rugby operation. Joan Caudullo remains Montpellier's head coach entering his third season, while Bernard Laporte has served as director of rugby since 2023.
What emerged last season was a Montpellier side increasingly capable of combining traditional forward pressure with a far more dangerous attacking game. That evolution is important because MHR is no longer entering a season trying to prove it belongs among the Top 14's serious teams. The evidence of 2025-26 already established that.
The challenge is staying there.
Montpellier Transfers And Offseason Changes
Montpellier's response to reaching the Top 14 final was not to leave the squad untouched.
Adam Hastings arrives from Glasgow, giving MHR another experienced option at fly-half. The Scotland international joins a position group that already includes Domingo Miotti, creating one of the more intriguing selection questions entering the season.
The additions in the pack could be just as important.
Reda Wardi returns to Montpellier from La Rochelle and provides another option at prop, while Ruben van Heerden arrives from the Stormers to strengthen the second row. Van Heerden's value as a lineout target and maul presence fits naturally into a side already built around a powerful forward platform.
Sébastien Bézy arrives from Clermont and gives Montpellier an experienced scrum-half following the departure of Léo Coly to Bayonne. Dimitri Delibes, meanwhile, arrives from Toulouse and offers flexibility across the midfield and wider backline.
There have been meaningful losses. Along with Coly, Marco Tauleigne has departed for Valence Romans, Nika Abuladze has returned to Exeter Chiefs and Thomas Vincent has moved to Oyonnax. Enzo Forletta also was reported as leaving for Perpignan.
The overall picture is not of a rebuild. Montpellier has altered important pieces of the squad while adding players who could immediately compete for significant roles.
That should increase competition within the team, particularly at halfback and across the forward pack.
Montpellier's Projected Starting XV For 2026-27
This is a projected strongest Montpellier lineup based on the available squad information, not an official team selection.
- Mohamed Haouas
- Jordan Uelese
- Wilfrid Hounkpatin
- Florian Verhaeghe
- Ruben van Heerden
- Lenni Nouchi (captain)
- Alexandre Bécognée
- Billy Vunipola
- Ali Price
- Domingo Miotti
- Gabriel Ngandebe
- Auguste Cadot
- Arthur Vincent/Karl-Anthony Martin
- Rupeni Caucaunibuca Jr.
- Donovan Taofifenua
Projected bench options: Christopher Tolofua, Baptiste Erdocio, Tyler Duguid, Yacouba Camara, Solomon Shand, Sébastien Bézy, Adam Hastings and Dimitri Delibes.
There are enough variables here that Montpellier's opening-day XV should not necessarily be viewed as its definitive best team.
Fly-half is particularly fascinating. Miotti enters after scoring 196 Top 14 points in 2025-26, but Hastings was not recruited merely to provide emergency depth. Bézy's arrival also creates another option at scrum-half, while Delibes' versatility could allow Caudullo to alter his midfield and back-three combinations depending on the opponent.
Langi Gleeson is another significant piece of the longer-term picture. The back-rower suffered a left knee injury in January 2026, and his recovery timetable was uncertain entering his move to Montpellier, potentially keeping him out early in the season.
Montpellier Rugby Players To Watch In 2026-27
Lenni Nouchi
Lenni Nouchi sits at the center of Montpellier's identity. The captain provides work rate in the back row and is important to the defensive and turnover game. On a roster containing substantial experience, his leadership gives the team an important point of continuity.
Domingo Miott
Domingo Miotti enters the season with genuine competition at fly-half but also with considerable evidence supporting his importance. His 196 Top 14 points led Montpellier in 2025-26, and his kicking and ability to control attacking tempo were central to MHR's success.
Billy Vunipola
Billy Vunipola provides a different type of influence. His physicality at No. 8 gives Montpellier a direct carrying threat around which other parts of the attack can operate. His two tries in the Challenge Cup final illustrated how damaging that power can become close to the line.
Florian Verhaeghe
Florian Verhaeghe matters because Montpellier's attacking ambition still depends upon reliable possession. His importance in the lineout gives MHR a platform from which its more expansive game can develop.
Ruben van Heerden
Ruben van Heerden could become one of the offseason additions with the greatest tactical influence. Adding another lineout target and maul specialist to an already physical pack gives Montpellier additional ways to control matches before releasing its backs.
There also are younger players worth tracking. Prop Luca Tabarot has moved into the professional ranks, while lock Nikolozi Chkhortolia, back-rower Alexander Masibaka and flanker Raphaël Audibert represent developing options who could become increasingly important as the season demands greater squad rotation.
How Montpellier Plays
The temptation after seeing Montpellier score 824 points and 101 tries is to define MHR simply as an attacking side.
That misses an important part of the equation.
Montpellier's attack begins with its forwards. Scrum strength, lineout possession and maul pressure provide the foundation, and from there MHR has shown a willingness to increase the tempo and move the ball into space.
That combination was devastating in the Challenge Cup final. Nine tries against Ulster were not produced by one-dimensional forward rugby. Montpellier used its physical platform to create opportunities for an ambitious, offload-friendly attack capable of moving wide and punishing defenses in transition.
Miotti's tactical kicking gives the side another way of applying pressure rather than requiring Montpellier to attack from everywhere. Taofifenua's aerial ability also contributes to that part of the game.
The concern is what happens without the ball.
Montpellier conceded 587 points and 69 tries during the 2025-26 Top 14 regular season. Those numbers did not prevent MHR from finishing second, but they demonstrate the gap between an attack that was exceptionally productive and a defense that still has room to improve.
The balance between those two sides of Montpellier's game may define its championship ceiling.
Montpellier's Biggest Strength Entering 2026-27
It is difficult to look anywhere other than the attack.
A team does not accidentally score 824 points and 101 tries across a Top 14 regular season. Montpellier demonstrated that its attacking production could survive the grind of the domestic campaign and translate into European knockout rugby.
The encouraging part for MHR is how that offense is constructed.
Forward power creates the platform. Montpellier can attack through its maul and close-range carrying game, but it also has the backs to turn quick possession into width and transition opportunities. The result is an attack capable of changing its method without changing its objective.
The offseason additions potentially provide even more options. Hastings adds competition at fly-half, Delibes provides backline versatility and the additions of Wardi and van Heerden reinforce the forward structure underneath everything else.
Montpellier should not need to reinvent its rugby. It needs to make an already productive model more reliable.
The Biggest Question Facing Montpellier
Can MHR become more consistent defensively and away from home?
The defensive numbers provide the most obvious concern after Montpellier allowed 587 points and 69 tries in league play last season. When the margins shrink in the Top 14 playoffs, the ability to win without producing an attacking avalanche becomes increasingly valuable.
Road consistency also deserves attention. Montpellier's reliance on its home form had been an issue in 2024-25, when it managed only three away victories.
The 2025-26 playoff run provided evidence of progress, particularly with the 36-33 quarterfinal victory at Castres. But becoming a perennial championship contender requires producing that resilience throughout the calendar, not simply when the postseason begins.
There also is the matter of integrating the new arrivals. Montpellier has added players who could strengthen several important positions, but greater individual quality does not automatically produce greater cohesion.
If the defense improves while the attacking identity remains intact, MHR's ceiling rises considerably.
What Should Montpellier Expect In The 2026-27 Top 14 Season?
There is little reason to treat Montpellier as anything other than a Top 14 contender entering the new campaign.
The best-case scenario is obvious. The new signings strengthen an already productive squad, Montpellier maintains the attacking threat that carried it to 824 league points, the defense becomes more consistent and MHR returns to the final with a better ending.
A more measured expectation is another season firmly in the playoff conversation.
Repeating a second-place finish and another trip to the final cannot simply be assumed. The Top 14 season is demanding, Montpellier has changed pieces of its squad and the club's European ambitions will create another layer of pressure on its depth.
The downside scenario would emerge if defensive problems persist, away performances become unreliable and the offseason changes disrupt rather than strengthen the combinations that worked in 2025-26. Even then, the squad described entering the season is built to compete rather than rebuild.
That distinction matters.
Montpellier Hérault Rugby spent 2025-26 demonstrating how far it had climbed, finishing second in the Top 14, reaching the final and lifting the Challenge Cup. The 2026-27 season is about discovering whether that climb has reached a plateau or whether MHR has another step available.
For now, Montpellier belongs among the Top 14's contenders. Becoming champion again will require turning one of the competition's most dangerous attacking teams into one of its most complete.
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