Montpellier's academy players taught Worcester's Premiership hot shots a lesson with a 17-22 win as the 2009/10 European season got underway at Sixways.
The French side selected seven youngsters for the Pool 2 match after being beaten by Toulouse in their domestic championship.
Montpellier hadn't won on the road since November last year and that statistic only served to spur them on as they stunned the seven thousand strong crowd at Sixways.
An early Willie Walker penalty may have provided false confidence to the home side. They conceded a succession of penalties which the visitors into a 15-3 lead.
Fédérico Todeschini hit the mark four times and full back Jaque Shutte added a further three-pointer to give Montpellier side that handsome lead as they prepared for the interval. But a last-gasp try from home skipper Pat Sanderson gave a different perspective to the the tie going into the break.
The home side would have felt it was their match for the taking, despite being second best for much of the first period. But if indiscipline was their undoing in the first period, then handling errors was their downfall in the second.
Six to zero was the woeful count that will make unpleasant reading for Mike Ruddock. And indeed, Montpellier stretched their lead with a 58th minute score from inside centre Florian Nicot. The conversion meant they had an unassailable lead.
Ryan Powell scored a try to set up a nervy ending, but the French held on for a crucial win.
After the match Todeschini said, "It's a young team and the Amlin Challenge Cup is very important to us this season. Good defence and not conceding penalties really helped us tonight."
Former Leicester Tiger Ollie Smith, who is in his second season at Montpellier added, "On paper there was a lot of new faces and a lot of young players and we have set the standard tonight. Its up to the players back in France to up it when we play at home next week."
