To win away in France was always going to be a tough task-particularly given Warriors record there-this was only their second win in France in the top tier of European competition.

They have now secured two wins out of two in the competition and Townsend was delighted with what he seen from his players.

He said: “It was a really good result, I’m very proud of the players’ effort. To play in front of a noisy crowd who were really getting behind their team and to show composure when it was needed and to show discipline in defence but also really strong tackling was very pleasing.

“It wasn’t a game we probably predicted as both teams like to move the ball around and it became an arm wrestle in the second-half.

“Conditions weren’t great under foot and I think with two closely matched teams it became more about who was going to break in defence and it was great to see our guys hold strong.

“There were one or two sequences in defence when we were knocking them back when they had possession thirty yards from our line and you could see the players get a big boost from that.

Mark Bennett then had a great break which led to the yellow card and three points so you can imagine what that did for our team and to Montpellier.” The Warriors will return to France in early December to face European giants Toulouse and Townsend believes his players will be ready for the challenge after this performance.

He said: “Toulouse have won two out of two as well and what a team they are. They have the biggest budget in world rugby with the best record in Europe in terms of winning titles so we can’t wait.

”We knew today would be great learning for our guys - whether we won or lost - and we’ve got some great young players in our quad such as Jonny Gray, Finn Russell and Mark Bennett, so for them to play in France they will be better players for the experience.”