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After a thumping 10-try victory over Rovigo in round one
After a thumping 10-try victory over Rovigo in round one, London Irish travel to hoping to maintain their position at the top of Pool 1.
Irish scored 10 converted tries in their 70-14 win but must now go to one of toughest grounds in French rugby this season. Grenoble have won their last five Top 14 matches at home, notching up wins over Bordeaux-Begles, Brive, Racing Metro, Bayonne and La Rochelle.
Fijian wing Alipate Ratini has scored six tries in those five fixtures, including a superb hat-trick in the victory over Bordeaux. New Zealand number eight Rory Grice has also been in great form at home with three tries in five games, while Jonathan Wisniewski continues to pull the strings from fly-half.
Grenoble suffered a 37-14 defeat to Cardiff Blues in round one but London Irish’s Eamonn Sheridan insists they are fully focussed for their trip to France.
The Exiles are likely to make a host of changes for the match as they continue to rotate their squad for European and Aviva Premiership action.
Sheridan said: “Grenoble are totally different at home, like a lot of French teams. They have five wins on the bounce at home, so we’re under no illusions about how tough it’s going to be.
“We also saw them in pre-season when we played Montpellier and they beat Quins by quite a margin at the same ground on the same day, so we know that they’re going to be a serious handful. But in most competitions you need a big away win to get where you want to go.”
Match facts
- London Irish have won eight of their last nine games in the competition.
- London Irish lost their last game against French opposition but won their previous five before that.
- Grenoble have won just one of their last five games in the competition (L3 D1) and have never won at home to English opposition in six attempts (D1).
- The Exiles’ 70 points last weekend came from ten converted tries.
- These two sides have never faced each other in the Challenge Cup before.
London Irish ended Grenoble's fine run at home with a 25-15 bonus-point victory in France. - 24/10/2014 20:37
London Irish ended Grenoble’s fine run at home with a 25-15 bonus-point victory in France.
Grenoble had won their previous five matches at the Stade Lesdiguières but scores from Fergus Mulchrone, Halani Aulika, Alex Lewington and Luke Narraway maintained the Exiles’ place at the top of Pool 1.
Grenoble’s Irish-born scrum half James Hart kicked the home side into an early three point lead but the visitors hit straight back with a try from Fergus Mulchrone. Hart nudged Grenoble back in front with a second penalty before a yellow card for Daniel Kilioni put the home side on the back foot.
The Exiles quickly regained their lead with a second try as they made the most of their one-man advantage when Halani Aulika was mauled over by the forwards. Shane Geraghty added the extras this time but Hart was soon pegging Irish back with a third penalty.
Wing Alex Lewington showed great pace and power to get the Exiles’ third try on 26 minutes but Geraghty was unable to add the conversion. A frantic start to the second half saw Hunt add two more penalties either side of a missed penalty from the Exiles’ Chris Noakes.
Jebb Sinclair then saw yellow for the visitors but they were soon to extend their lead with a Noakes penalty.
Luke Narraway ensured the bonus point for the Exiles with his first try for the club since joining from Perpignan in the summer.
Noakes missed the conversion, the Exiles’ fourth wayward kick of the night, and that made for a nervous last quarter of an hour for the visitors but they held on for the win.
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