Ali Price and Blair Kinghorn involved in major Top 14 shock as fellow Scot makes French rugby debut

The scrum-half, who moved to France from Edinburgh in the summer, started the game at Septeo Stadium and had his former Glasgow Warriors team-mate Domingo Miotti alongside him at stand-off.

Blair Kinghorn was at full-back for Toulouse whose season had begun with back-to-back wins over Clermont and Perpignan. Montpellier, by contrast, has lost their first two games to Toulon and Bayonne but the form guide counted for nothing on Saturday evening.

Toulouse started brightly enough, with Dimitri Delibes scoring the opening try, but Montpellier took control after Gabriel Ngandebe touched down for the hosts after 13 minutes. Further tries followed quickly from Jordan Uelese, Tom Banks and Arthur Vincent and Montpellier led 34-7 at half-time.

Celian Pouzelgues got a try back for Toulouse but the visitors’ indiscipline proved costly as they conceded six scrum penalties. Wilfrid Hounkpatin sealed the win with a late score for Montpellier for whom Miotti kicked 17 points.

Price wasn’t the only Scot on the winning side; he was joined by Alex Masibaka, the No 8 who was part of the Scotland summer tour squad and played in the win over the Maori All Blacks. Masibaka came on in 37th minute for Montpellier. He returned to the club in the summer following a season on loan at Pro D2 side Soyaux-Angoulême.

It was a disappointing night for Kinghorn and his Toulouse team-mates who are bidding to win the Top 14 title for the fourth season in a row. They were still without talismanic scrum-half Antoine Dupont who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during France’s Guinness Six Nations win over Ireland in March.

Elsewhere, Jamie Ritchie made his debut for Perpignan, coming off the bench in the 28-15 home loss to Racing 92.

The Scotland flanker joined the Catalan club from Edinburgh in the close season but missed the start of the Top 14 campaign after picking up a foot injury against Fiji during the national side’s summer tour. Ritchie came on at half-time at Stade Aimé Giral.

Jonny Gray was part of the Bordeaux-Begles side that enjoyed a 71-24 home win over Montauban and fellow Scotland lock Ewan Johnson started for Bayonne in their 48-17 defeat at Castres.