The FCG had the opportunity to move away from the red zone this Saturday evening at the Stade des Alpes, against Castres, who were still out of a series of three consecutive defeats.
Unfortunately, the match could not have got off to a worse start for the "Rouge & Bleu": Marc-Antoine Rallier intercepted the ball and ran into the try-zone, despite the return of Daniel Kilioni (0-7, 5'). The Isèrois held the ball but the Castrais were more efficient and gradually widened the gap thanks to the foot of his Argentine usher, Benjamin Urdapiletta (0-13, 23')
The FCG woke up at the end of the first half and took advantage of its domination in the closed melee to open the score (3-13, 40')
In defence, the Castrais, very undisciplined (18 penalties conceded, 2 yellow cards), put the barbed wire and are present in the rucks, preventing the Grenoble team from putting speed into their game. At the hour mark, the gap is still 10 points after a penalty from each of the two scorers (6-16, 54').
Grenoble will have, once, succeeded in a sequence with speed, precise races, but, on the penalty obtained on the 22 opponents, Gaëtan Germain almost came back to 7 points...
In the last minutes, Grenoble camped in the 22 opponents, multiplying the melees, the balloons carried or the penalties, but it was finally the Castrais who won the battle.
With this first loss without bonus at home, the FCG lost the opportunity to move further away from Perpignan (beaten in Paris) and return to within 5 points of their opponent in the evening, waiting for Agen's result.
After two decisive matches in the Challenge Cup, the FCG will go to Toulouse at the end of January, before the international truce for the beginning of the VI Nations.
Auteur : FCG Rugby