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The eyes of the French rugby public may be on Paris with Les Bleus taking on the Springboks on Saturday night, but the French rugby weekend kicks off this Thursday evening, with Grenoble hosting Béziers at the Stade des Alpes.
Grenoble have the honour of playing in back to back Thursday fixtures, and a recent potted history was covered in last week’s ‘Thursday Night Lights’ column. For those at the back who weren’t listening: in short, they’ve had a disappointing start to this campaign.
Off the back of three successive seasons in which they have missed out on promotion to the Top 14 by the finest of margins, Grenoble have started slowly and find themselves in ninth, and remarkably already 15 points adrift of first-placed Vannes.
There is some justification for their slow start, and it’s unlikely panic has set in yet. Off the back of another gargantuan season with the small matter of 33 games including the devastating Access Match loss to Perpignan, the coaching staff consciously returned to pre-season later than usual to allow their squad to recover.
They’ve also been beset by an extensive injury list that stretches beyond their star man Sam Davies, and to top things off, the players threatened strike action ahead of their shock home defeat to Provence following the suspension of backs coach Nicolas Nadau. Nadau has just been announced as part of the coaching staff at Grenoble’s recent nemesis Perpignan, joining Joe Worsley under the gaze of Laurent Labit as they attempt to transform the Catalans appalling start to the the Top 14 season.
For Béziers, they sit five points behind Grenoble but the sentiment is rather more concerning. Indifferent away from home as is often the want of French sides at the start of the season, their home form had been solid, but have now lost comfortably three weeks in a row including twice at the Stade Raoul Barrière, falling first to Valence Romans and then being swept aside by an imperious Colomiers side last week.
It was however their 40-5 away defeat to bottom placed Dax that was most consequential, with a couple of Englishmen feeling the heat. It was a year ago that Beziers were taken over by a consortium fronted by Bob Skinstad, Andrew Mehrtens and the late Eddie Jordan, and the man they brought in over the summer, Rory Teague, was dismissed from his post as Manager after only eight games. Former Biterrois Johnny Howard was also relieved of his Director of Rugby duties with the first team, although both remain part of the club.
For the match itself, few will be expecting anything other than a home victory. In spite of their raft of injuries, Grenoble can still count on the quality of Barnabé Couilloud at 9 to provide pace and accuracy to a backline that contains former Bayonne man Yan Lestrade and former France U20 Romain Fusier at 13.
Up front, Grenoble went very well at scrum time in spite of their loss away to Soyaux Angouleme and will expect to have the ascendancy in the tight against a Béziers pack for whom only Clément Ancely and Baptiste Abescat remain from last week while Cam Dodson returns to the starting line up. The Englishman has been a shining light for Béziers this season, overseeing a lineout and driving maul game that has looked strong amidst the inconsistency elsewhere.
There is some interest at lock where Australian Cameron Holt makes only his third start for the club. It was confirmed last week that stand out second row Giorgi Javakhia has moved to Toulon as a medical joker until the end of the season. With Thomas Lainault and Pierce Phillips having moved to Racing 92 and Rouen respectively in the off-season, it seems an odd move for the club in the position that suddenly looks a little thin, albeit an exciting one for the big Georgian.
Béziers have rotated massively, with only Paul Réau joining Ancely and Abescat as the sole starters two weeks in a row. Fans of Portugal will be eagerly awaiting their match at home to Uruguay on Saturday, but it does deprive the men from Hérault their starting half backs in Hugo Aubry and talisman Samuel Marques, although it appears that Hugo Camacho won’t be involved with Os Lobos as he takes the 9 jersey. In fairness, Grenoble will also be without Cody Thomas, Jose Madeira and Raffale Costa Storti who are also all part of Portuguese plans.
Béziers are the third most successful side in French club rugby, and their backers have grand plans to take them back to that glorious past. Grenoble have had a tough few months but should be too strong here. It would be a brave punter that bets against them making the Barrage once everyone is back fully fit. Whether they would have a flutter on them breaking their promotion hoodoo after that, remains to be seen.
Pro D2 continues this Thursday (6th November) with Grenoble v Béziers, available to UK & Ireland viewers for free via FRUK Rugby on YouTube.
FC Grenoble Rugby Starting XV (1-15): Zack Gauthier, Bastien Soury, Giorgi Pertaia, Thomas Ployet, Cameron Holt, Antonin Berruyer, Josh Thompson, Mathis Baret, Barnabe Couilloud, Max Clement, Nadir Megdoud, Yan Lestrade, Romain Fusier, Hugo Trouilloud, Julien Farnoux
FC Grenoble Rugby Replacements (16-23): Lilian Rossi, Sascha Mistrulli, Brandon Nansen, Victor Guillaumond, Eric Escande, Marc Palmier, Julien Heriteau, Johannes Jonker
AS Béziers Hérault Starting XV (1-15): Youssef Amrouni, Yanis Boulassel, John Henry Fincham, Cam Dodson, Petero Mailulu, Apisalome Tegumailagi Kuruisaqila, Clement Ancely, Baptiste Abescat, Hugo Gomes Camacho, Damien Anon, Aminiasi Tuimaba, Sireli Masiwini, Theo Vassallo, Paul Reau, Duran Koevort
AS Béziers Hérault Replacements (16-23): Yanis Lockwood, Yahnis El Maslouhi, Pierre Gayraud, Tanguy Jaillon, Timeo Labat, Pierre Courtaud, Antoine Payrastre, Julien Rasamoelina
