BERNARD JACKMAN’S GRENOBLE took a vital step towards securing their Top 14 status for next season with a superb 32-11 win over Toulouse at Stade des Alpes yesterday.
Following an excellent start to the season, when FCG found themselves in the Champions Cup qualification places, recent months have seen a turnaround in form to the extent that they were beginning to look at the bottom of the table with trepidation.
Such is the competitiveness of the Top 14 that a set of consecutive defeats can swiftly take a club from the top six down towards the bottom of the league. Coming into this weekend, Grenoble found themselves just a single point ahead of the relegation places.
However, yesterday’s excellent result over a Toulouse side that brought strong form with them to Grenoble means Jackman’s men need just a single match point in the final round of fixtures next weekend to guarantee their Top 14 place.
They travel to the already-relegated Lyon on Saturday afternoon, although defeats for Bayonne [at home to La Rochelle] and Brive [at home to Stade Français] would mean Grenoble don’t need any match points.
Stade have been in excellent form this season and are striving for a top two finish, meaning they seem strong contenders to win in Brive, but Bayonne’s desperation to avoid the drop means they will fancy themselves to beat La Rochelle.
Were Grenoble to finish level on match points with Bayonne or Brive, they would be ranked below them in the final table due to the Top 14 tiebreakers, which prioritise the aggregate scores from teams’ head-to-head meetings in that season.
Grenoble can remove all doubt by beating Lyon in Matmut Stadium, though a losing bonus point would get them over the line. Another exciting weekend lies ahead, but if Jackman’s side can produce another performance like yesterday’s, they will certainly see off the challenge of Lyon.
The win over Toulouse ended FCG’s run of four defeats, with out-half Jonathan Wisniewski once again important as he kicked 22 points, adding to the tries scored by Nigel Hunt and Daniel Kilioni.
Defeat for Guy Novès’ side means they drop to fourth in the table before next weekend’s visit of Champions Cup hopefuls Bordeaux. Toulouse did manage to score a superb team try in defeat yesterday, with Florian Fritz finishing the magnificent effort.
