Montpellier had a formidable home record and an average score in front of their own fans this season of 45-14 but, while visiting teams in the Top 14 reach a point when they accept defeat, Exeter do not care to remind themselves of the word’s meaning and after conquering England they are on the march in Europe.

There was a moment in the second half on Sunday when, after Montpellier’s burly Fiji wing Nemani Nadolo scored the second of his tries against the club he played four matches for in 2011, Exeter were up against it. At a ground where the name of the Top 14 club’s owner, Mohed Altrad, is plastered everywhere, a monument to a league where money shouts, the less expensively assembled cast of Chiefs were bound by more traditional virtues of graft and togetherness.

From the selflessness of the flanker Don Armand, who scored two tries in a final attempt to win the approval of the England head coach, Eddie Jones, before the squad announcement on Thursday, to the subtlety of Henry Slade in the centre, the player who adds sugar to Exeter’s cake mix, gliding away from defenders who had set out to flatten him, the Chiefs had a more solid base than Montpellier, who played in spurts but faded in the final 20 minutes.

Montpellier took a fortunate lead on six minutes when their centre Joe Tomane was ruled not to have knocked the ball on as he tried to collect Ruan Pienaar’s chip before scoring, but from then on they were chasing the game against opponents whose obduracy meant they would keep pressing for victory.

Armand’s first try after 17 minutes came when Exeter, as is their preference, kicked a penalty to touch and drove the lineout. The tactic failed twice when they were held up and Montpellier were awarded a scrum, and at times their attempts to run the ball in their own 22, rather than kick and give Nadolo the opportunity to pump legs that were wider than the goalposts, foundered but in front of many hundreds of their supporters they never stopped believing in the strategy that earned them the Premiership title last season.

Montpellier, missing Aaron Cruden as well as both Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis through injury, lost their tactician Ruan Pienaar after 20 minutes. The South African scrum-half was knocked out in a tackle and was taken to hospital with concussion during a move started by Slade, who drifted through the midfield in his own half and linked with the wing Olly Woodburn, another Exeter player being monitored by Jones, on the home 22.

Woodburn slipped the ball out of the back of his hand to the second-row Mitch Lees, who would have had a 20-yard run to the line but for the Montpellier full‑back Jesse Mogg, who had collided with Pienaar, deliberately knocking the ball forward with his left hand. The Australian was sent to the sin-bin but did not cost his side a penalty try. Gareth Steenson kicked the resulting penalty but the only other points scored during the period when the Chiefs had a man advantage came when Benoît Paillaugue touched down after Armand and Jonny Hill had somehow prevented Louis Picamoles from forcing his way over the line.

The Chiefs should have gone into the interval level at 10-10. They had a lineout in their 22 with seconds remaining but Nicolas van Rensburg stole the throw and Frans Steyn exploited a defence that was standing deep to free Nadolo who broke two tackles to score in the corner. Ian Whitten’s converted try early in the second half drew Exeter level again but Nadolo’s second soon after looked to have tilted the game firmly towards Montpellier.

Exeter remained true to themselves, though, repelling a series of drives close to the line and, as Picamoles and his back-row partner Yacouba Camara, whose carrying had taken his side over the gainline, faded and were eventually replaced, Exeter took command. Armand’s second try, after a series of drives, drew them level and Steenson applied the winning flourish with a penalty nine minutes from time after the replacement hooker, Charles Geli, had strayed offside at a ruck. The early penalty count was against Exeter but, as Montpellier felt the pace of a game in which their opponents never stopped moving the ball, they became indisciplined and the Chiefs saw out the closing moments with little anxiety.

“I am so pleased,” Exeter’s director of rugby, Rob Baxter, said after a match in which Joy Neville of Ireland became the first woman to run the line in a Champions Cup match. “We talked in the week about not just coming here to put in a performance but to get the win. While there are things to work on, we have made a good start to the group and this was a very important victory.”

Montpellier Mogg (Michel, 71); Fall (Nagusa, 61), Tomane, Steyn, Nadolo; Paillaugue, Pienaar (Sanga, 20); Nariashvili (Fichten, 65), Ruffenach (Geri, 68), Guillamon, Jacques du Plessis, Van Rensburg, Galletier, Camara (Delannoy, 71), Picamoles (capt; Liebenberg, 65).

Tries Tomane, Paillaugue, Nadolo 2 Cons Paillaugue 2.

Sin-bin Mogg 19.

Exeter Dollman; Turner, Slade, Whitten, Woodburn (Short, 29); Steenson, White (Chudley, 74); Moon (Hepburn, 59), Yeandle (capt; Taione 59), Francis (Williams, 59) Lees, Hill, Armand, Salvi, Waldrom (S Simmonds, 51).

Tries Armand 2, Whitten. Cons Steenson 3. Pens Steenson 2.

Referee J Lacey (Ire). Attendance 9,541.