The visitors arrived to face the Warriors without an away win since last November and with a squad largely made up of academy players.
But Montpellier’s youngsters weren’t overawed by the occasion and reacted to Willie Walker’s early penalty by surging into a 15-3 lead thanks to the boot of Jacques Schutte and Federico Todeschini.
The home side were back in the game on the stroke of half-time, though, as Pat Sanderson forced his way over after an impressive forward drive.
Worcester started the second half on the front foot but missed the opportunity to reduce the deficit further when Walker’s penalty struck a post. And as they continued to dominate possession handling errors cost them the chance to add to Sanderson’s score.
They were made to pay in the 58th minute when Florian Nicot intercepted to run in the vital try. Julien Tomas’ conversion meant the home side now needed at least two tries to avoid embarrassment.
Replacement scrum-half Ryan Powell gave the home fans hope with less than 20 minutes to go as he took advantage of another forward to drive to go over.
The gap was now down to five points but the home side couldn’t turn their possession into points and the youngsters from the south of France held on for a memorable victory.
Former Leicester centre Ollie Smith paid tribute to his inexperienced team-mates.
“It’s a good confidence boost. We haven’t won away from home this season,” he said.
“We’ve set a standard. It’s now up to the players that were left in France to up it.”
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