IRISH SCRUM-HALF James Hart kicked five penalties for Grenoble as they lost 25-18 to Montpellier in the Top 14 this evening.
The former Clontarf man kept his side in the game with a display of accurate place kicking, but the home side powered to victory thanks to a try from Mamuka Gorgodze, two drop goals from François Trinh-Duc, three penalties by Benoît Paillaugue and another five points by Jonathan Pélissié.
Hart played the entire game on his fifth start of the season and it was his 76th minute penalty that salvaged an important losing bonus point for the Bernard Jackman and Mike Prendergast-coached Grenoble. Former Connacht lock and club captain of the Top 14 club, Andrew Farley, also played a role off the bench.
Meanwhile, former Leinster lock Damian Browne started for Oyonnax as the minnows earned a 22-9 win at home to Perpignan. Last year’s Pro D2 champions have already beaten Toulon, Clermont and Castres at home, with the James Hook-captained Catalans the latest to join the list of high-profile scalps at the Stade Charles Mathon.
Browne was making his sixth league appearance of the season for Oyonnax, having joined from Leinster during the summer. The 33-year-old previously had a spell in France with Brive.
Elsewhere, Jonny Sexton was an unused substitute for Racing Metro in their 9-6 loss away to Biarritz. Strangely, head coaches Laurent Labit and Laurent Travers decided against using the Ireland out-half in the closing stages as the game went down to the wire in heavy downpour.
Instead, Sexton watched on as fullback Benjamin Dambielle missed two late penalties for the Parisians against a Biarritz side for whom this was just the second win of a difficult domestic season. Even after this shock victory, Serge Blanco’s club remains glued to the bottom of the league.
The question of why Racing even bothered to have Sexton fly back to France after training with Ireland all week springs to mind, but Joe Schmidt will have been relieved to see one of his most important players remaining on the bench.
