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M. Clement (36'), A. Callandret (58'), N. Coutin (64')
Tries
L. Suaud (27'), M. Vachon (47')
S. Davies (36')
Conversions
L. Meret (28', 47')
S. Davies (26')
Penalties
L. Meret (62')
This fixture had stopped being a derby and started being a problem. For three of the last four meetings, Valence Romans Drôme had taken a bite out of their neighbours, including a win here in April. On Friday night, FC Grenoble didn’t dazzle so much as they corrected a trend: less a showcase than a long-needed pivot back to parity.
They did it by making the few decisive moments count and surviving the many they didn’t control. Valence had more ball, more lineouts, more carries. Grenoble had the only clean breaks and the sharper edge when the game fractured. That’s the story. Five times Grenoble got in behind; Valence never did, despite all the volume. Eight Grenoble turnovers at the breakdown repeatedly snapped VRDR’s rhythm and, when the card came, the contest tilted just enough.
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAK
DEFENDER BEATEN
TACKLE
MISSED TACKLE
TURNOVER WON
TURNOVERS CONCEDED
PENALTY CONCEDED
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The yellow to Hugo Fabregue at 53 minutes was the hinge. Until then, Valence’s pack were dictating the shape of things: 17 lineouts won and good maul traction, with Matthieu Vachon’s score from close range confirmation that the forward plan worked. Down a lock, VRDR lost a piece of maul power and ruck presence, and Grenoble finally found front-foot ball. Within that window, Aurelien Callandret struck – three clean breaks on the night tell you where Grenoble’s gainline came from – and the whole tone changed. Even when Lucas Meret nudged Valence back in front from the tee at 62, the momentum didn’t feel the same. Two minutes later Nathan Coutin finished down the left and Grenoble had the lead they wouldn’t surrender.
It helped that their backfield were braver with the ball. Thomas Alary carried 15 times for 73 metres and kept asking for it; Callandret (66 metres) and Coutin (52) gave them width Valence never really matched. Inside them, Lalomilo beat four defenders and gave Sam Davies options on either shoulder. Davies won’t replay the late missed drop goal, but the attempt on 77 minutes told you what Grenoble were thinking: take the oxygen out of the endgame. They didn’t need it, because their defence – creaky in the first tackle, excellent in the second – saw it out.
That scramble was led by Romain Fusier in midfield (11 tackles) and a bench that earned its keep. Hooker Bastien Soury hit five lineouts from five to steady a set piece that had been under real stress, while prop Zack Gauthier threw himself into 11 tackles after the break. In the tight five, Fergus Lee-Warner’s work rate and Manuel Leindekar’s nuisance value mattered in the last quarter. Behind them, number eight Steven David made the carries (46 metres from six) that bought Davies a platform when very little else was clean.
Don’t pretend this was perfect. Grenoble missed 20 tackles and coughed up 12 turnovers; that’s a loss on many nights. Their maul defence was dented by Vachon and they conceded too many cheap penalties in midfield, which fed Valence’s lineout machine. But they were ruthless in the two areas that decide tight derbies: linebreak conversion and breakdown theft. When they got into the red zone, they finished. When Valence got there, they were slowed, stripped or forced wide.
As for VRDR, the plan largely worked until it didn’t. The set piece supplied a steady diet of ball and the back three were busy on the carry – Thomas Roziere and Paul Marsan both topped 100 metres between them – but almost all of it came from deep. The telling number is zero clean breaks; plenty of yards, little incision. Meret steered them sensibly and they had the lead twice, yet too many possessions died on the edges, and the 10 minutes without Fabregue cost them both field position and physical presence. They’ll also kick themselves for allowing Grenoble to score straight after reclaiming the lead at 62. That’s concentration as much as structure.
The margin doesn’t flatter Grenoble, but neither does it bury Valence. The hosts were better in the moments that matter; the visitors were better in most of the ones that don’t. VRDR will take the losing bonus and a reminder that their forward template will win a lot of games, but they need sharper decision-making in the 22 and more variety off first phase. A bench injection from Joris Dupont and Calum Randle added metres but not control; that’s a selection conversation ahead of Béziers.
For Grenoble, this was the win they owed themselves at Stade des Alpes after April’s derby bruise and early-season stumbles at home. Ending VRDR’s hold over this rivalry is not a statement; it’s a reset. The takeaway is simple: when they play quicker off turnover and trust their back three, they find points even on an ugly night. Keep the discipline and first-up tackles where they were not, and there’s something to build on before Colomiers roll in.
