Montpellier earned an impressive victory at Bath, rounding off a disappointing Saturday for English clubs in the Champions Cup.
After Gloucester’s high-scoring draw against holders Bordeaux on Friday, Bath joined Sale, Bristol and Saracens in losing their opening pool fixture.
Leicester, Exeter and Northampton are all in action on Sunday.
Bath had scored at least 33 points in each of their first three Prem games this season but failed to reach those heights in attack during their Pool Four opener at The Rec.
The hosts had a try disallowed in both halves, while Joe Cokanasiga failed to cleanly gather a pass with the tryline beckoning when they led 14-10 early in the second period.
Bath were punished by Donovan Taofifenua’s second-half double and an Alex Becognee try for last season’s Challenge Cup winners Montpellier, who scored 22 points without reply after half-time.
Bath had already had a Max Ojomoh try ruled out for a knock-on when Montpellier’s former Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg raced in for the first points of the match.
The hosts would soon be on the scoreboard themselves as England centre Ollie Lawrence barged over in the corner, before number eight Arthur Green brilliantly sidestepped past a defender to put the Prem club in front.
Montpellier, beaten Top 14 finalists last season, kept in touch with an Adam Hastings penalty before the interval.
Cokanasiga’s missed opportunity proved costly almost immediately as winger Taofifenua dived over in the corner to make it 15-14 in the French side’s favour.
Hastings added a further three points from the tee and after an excellent defensive spell by the visitors, Taofifenua intercepted a Finn Russell pass on halfway and sped away from the chasing Bath defenders to score his second.
Josh Bayliss’ try for Bath did not stand because of an infringement earlier in the move, and Becognee burrowed over from close range in the final few minutes for Montpellier to make the win safe.
Bath’s remaining pool fixtures are against Cardiff, South African side Bulls and Stade Francais.
The latter two of those teams met earlier on Saturday, with Bulls scoring eight tries in a convincing 56-20 victory against their French opponents.
Cheswill Jooste ended with a hat-trick, having opened the scoring inside 20 seconds, in a bonus-point win.
Line-ups
Bath: Carreras; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, C Griffin; Russell, Spencer (capt); Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Jeanes, Ewels, Hill, Pepper, Green.
Replacements: Frost, Kirk, A Griffin, Richards, Bayliss, Van der Linde, Redpath, Tuipulotu.
Montpellier: Hogg; Delibes, Anyanwu, Piccardo, Taofifenua; Hastings, Price; Wardi, Akrab, Hounkpatin, Van Heerden, Chalureau, Camara, Becognee, Nouchi (capt).
Replacements: Riccitelli, Tabarot, Welsch, Beard, Duguid, Vunipola, Bezy, Echegaray.
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Filippo Russo (Italy) and Alberto Favaro (Italy)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)