Montpellier is still not cured of its national ills. The Hérault club relapsed heavily on Sunday in Toulouse (26-32), eight days after the breath of fresh air of its victory in the derby against Nîmes (32-29).

The Hérault club, so brilliant in the Champions League where it is the leader of its group and remains on seven wins in a row, continues to sink in the ranking of the Liqui Moly Starligue. Beaten for the fourth time in the last six days, the MHB is now 9th, doubled by resurgent Toulouse residents. With eight points behind Nantes and second place, qualifying for the next Champions League now seems inaccessible.

“In what we collectively offer in attack and defense, we give the impression that we have just discovered ourselves, lamented the Montpellier captain, Valentin Porte, at the microphone of beIN Sports. We took a handball lesson from a team that knows each other very well. In defense, these are professional misconduct. There is a problem of concentration and confidence, we are stressed, tense. “

Despite Lucas Pellas’ 7 goals, MHB could not do anything against a Toulouse team completely relaunched after a very complicated start to the season. The Fenix ​​is ​​undefeated over the last six days and it offers a game licked under the baton of the Spanish elf Erik Balenciaga, who made the Hérault defenders go crazy.

“This is the first time this season that we have achieved a full match, without any weak time, serious from start to finish”, illuminated the center-half Maxime Gilbert.

A series of saves by Jeff Lettens (14 in total, at 36%) created a first hole (12-9, 24th) followed by a new rant from the Montpellier coach during the time out. But Fenix ​​continued to widen the gap over the second period (26-19, 46th), under the leadership of Nemanja Ilic (7 goals), Erwin Feuchtmann (5 goals) and the former Montpellier Fredric Pettersson (5 but also).