Montpellier (AFP)
The handball players from Montpellier, first dominated, ended up largely winning against Saint-Raphaël 29-21 Thursday evening, for their return to competition after a month of stoppage, in a late match counting for the 6th day of the French championship.
After this result, Patrice Canayer's players are still unbeaten in the French Championship, with three wins and one draw.
They go back, despite their three games late, to third place (7 pts).
Since the start of the championship, only Paris, leader, and Limoges (2nd) have been able to play all their matches.
Thursday evening in their Bougnol room behind closed doors, the Montpellier players played their first match since October 11 and the draw conceded against Nantes.
Then, the Héraultais were at a standstill after many cases of Covid-19 detected within the workforce and had all competitions six matches behind.
Saint-Raphaël withstood the assaults of the MHB and held for the first 25 minutes (9-9, 25th), but wastes in the offensive performance, such as a side shot, a loss of ball, or a temporary exclusion of Johannes Marescot allowed Montpellier to take the break just before the break (13-10).
Then over the second half, the teammates of Melvyn Richardson, MHB co-top scorer with Julien Bos (4 goals each), continued to gradually widen the gap, reaching several times up to seven lengths of 'advanced.
Raphaëlois Drevy Paschal (6 goals) and Arthur Vigneron (5 goals), top scorers of the match, were not enough against Marin Sego and his 16 saves.
Saint-Raphaël, with a late match, remains in 8th place, three points off the podium.
Montpellier is now preparing the reception of Cesson-Rennes on Saturday for a match of the French Championship of the 8th day.
As part of the same day, Chartres receives Ivry and Toulouse will travel to the surprising promoted Limoges, second in the standings, on Friday.
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