THE GRENOBLE SUCCESS story continues in France as their 25-19 win over Perpignan lifted them to fourth in the Top 14 table.
The Isère-based club overpowered their opponents up front to race into a 25-9 lead after 62 minutes before seeing off a late rally. Victory takes them to within seven points of league-leading Stade Francais and just two off third placed Castres.
The home win was build on a foundation of pack-driven domination. With the scrum and lineout functioning well, the Grenoble maul did untold damage to the visitors. Vincent Campo had the simple task of dotting down after 15 minutes as Grenoble’s forwards — coached by Bernard Jackman — streamrolled their way in from the Perpignan 22 to set up the score.
Irish scrum-half James Hart converted the Campo score to add to his earlier penalty and it was 10-3 at the break. Hart was sent flying soon after the restart as Perpignan centre David Marty went through him for a shortcut.
Too high, James. too high.
The Perpignan forwards were lacking Marty’s fight and two more rolling mauls led to the tries that effectively killed off the tie. Both were touched down by flanker Fabien Alexandre. The try-scoring bonus point was not forthcoming, however, and it was left to Perpignan’s Tommy Allan to round out the scoring in the final minutes.
Next on the agenda for Grenoble is an away date with 10th place Bordeaux-Begles. Clermont pay them a visit on 15 February and Grenoble will be hoping to profit on the fact that Vern Cotter’s men will have several internationals on Six Nations duty.
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