LOOKS can be deceiving.

Montpellier emerged for their pre-match warm-up wearing a variety a of old tracksuits which did little to enhance the French reputation for fashion, but seemed to aptly sum up a typical level of disinterest for a side already out of contention in the European Challenge Cup.

French teams don't travel well, those with nothing to play for don't even seem to bring all their gear. All in all, it pointed to a stroll in the park for Connacht. It was anything but.

The final scoreline suggests an easy win but as this game slipped into its final quarter Connacht were just a converted try ahead and it could have been tighter had the French not been guilty of some dreadful handling in the opening half.

A year ago Montpellier were thrashed 56-3 when they visited Galway, while they also went down to Michael Bradley's men in their own backyard before Christmas. It was obvious from the outset that those two set-backs were fresh in their minds.

They took the game to Connacht with a vigour which belied the fact they had nothing to play for, opting for wind advantage in the hope of unsettling the home side.

Connacht, who needed two wins and a bonus point from their final two games, clearly did not settle well with the mantle of favourites but they will now head to Sicily next Friday knowing that a win over Catania will see them through to the quarter-finals for the fourth year in succession.

In many ways, Connacht displayed a notable maturity in the way they dealt with the French, but for a long period the large home following feared that their European dream might die in the Sportsground. But Bradley has instilled good composure in this side and even when things were not going their way in the opening half, they refused to be rattled.

They got a perfect start when scrum-half Chris Keane broke from the 22 for a converted try after ten minutes but any notions of the floodgates opening were quickly dispelled as the French met the challenge head on.

Full-back David Bortolussi pulled back a penalty for them after 21 minutes but by then they should have been ahead but out-half Regis Lespinas overhit a grubber under the posts and the ball was over the dead ball line by the time he touched down.

But Montpellier's tackling in midfield was superb and far more aggressive than Connacht's during a first-half littered with mistakes.

Connacht, though, were content to be 7-3 in front at the break with the strong wind to come in the secondhalf. It was obvious that they would pull away if they cut out handling errors and injected a bit more aggression into the tackling. But Montpellier were determined to make a game of it and should have been awarded a try when Georgian flanker Mamuka Gorgodze got over in the left corner but referee Wayne Barnes, having taken up a poor position, did not see the touchdown and awarded a five metre scrum.

The English official, perhaps conscious of his error, awarded Montpellier a penalty try from the next phase when he penalised Connacht for bringing down the scrum.

Bortolussi's conversion pushed Montpellier 10-7 in front but the lead lasted just two minutes as David Slemen landed a 25 metre penalty when Montpellier captain Michael Macurdy was lucky not to be carded for stamping.

Connacht went back to basics after that and kicked to the corners. They were duly rewarded after 54 minutes when Colm Rigney was credited with the try after a drive from a lineout. Slemen added the points to make it 17-10.

The sin-binning of two Montpellier players for killing the ball, first centre Murphy Taele and then skipper Macurdy just as he was returning, took the wind out of the French challenge. By then the Connacht pack, with Rigney, skipper Andrew Farley and flanker Matt Lacey superb, were well on top.

Lacey got their third try with 17 minutes left and then Conor McPhillips secured the bonus point six minutes later.

They went show-boating in the closing minutes as Keith Matthews ran in a brace of tries for a flattering scoreline, but there was no doubt about the merit of the win. In the other game in the group, English side Worcester comfortably saw off the challenge of Catania 44-8 to remain top.