FIJIAN player and Grenoble Edward Sawailau copped a yellow card for knocking the ball down intentionally as the home side’s smooth run then took a stumble.
Grenoble put up a spirited performance to beat Toulouse 26-22 at Stade des Alpes yesterday.
It was scintillating game right to very end as Grenoble desperately needed the win to stave off relegation from the Top 14.
Grenoble got an early lead when fly-half Jonathan Wisniewski drew first blood and scored a penalty and then just after knocked over a sensational drop goal from 30 metres out.
The home side then compounded their lead when hooker Loick Jammes crossed over the line for a try. Grenoble were given a penalty and kicked for touch close to the Toulouse line. They then utilised the maul perfectly to score.
Toulouse then looked as though they had scored a try of their own in the 38th minute after taking the ball up field through eight phases and then making a piercing break. But the assistant referee noticed crossing earlier on in the play and the try was called off.
Grenoble then scored their second try of the match when they very patiently took it up field through their heavy forwards before finding themselves close to the Toulouse line. After crashing the ball up the middle there was space out wide, before a long pass was sent out to Xavier Mignot who wrapped around to score under the posts.
Toulouse were then given a penalty try after Grenoble repeatedly infringed at the scrum on the home side’s five metre line. The try was question vehemently by the Grenoble players after it didn’t look as though Toulouse had dominance over the scrum or that they were going to score.
For the final ten minutes of the game, Grenoble were constantly under attack from Toulouse but managed to keep the away side out after some great defending.
Teams Grenoble:15 Gio Aplon, 14 Edward Sawailau, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Xavier Mignot, 10 Jonathan Wisniewski, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Rory Grice, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Walter Desmaison, 2 Loick Jammes, 1 Sona Taumalolo
Replacements: 16 Arnaud Heguy, 17 Alexandre Dardet, 18 Mickael Capelli, 19 Dylan Hayes, 20 Lilian Saseras, 21 Gilles Bosch, 22 Nigel Hunt, 23 Dayna Edwards
Toulouse: 15 Alexis Palisson, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Yann David, 12 Gael Fickou, 11 Paul Perez, 10 Jean-Marc Doussain, 9 Sebastien Bezy, 8 Gillian Galan, 7 François Cros, 6 Talalelei Gray, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Dorian Aldegheri, 2 Christopher Tolofua, 1 Vasil Kakovin
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Gregory Lamboley, 19 Piula Faasalele, 20 Thierry Dusautoir, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Florian Fritz, 23 Census Johnston
