The Parisians slipped to a 15-9 defeat on Saturday night and must now pick up at least a point from their final group encounter with London Welsh next week.

The sides shared just two tries when they met in the French capital in Round 2 and neither could muster a five-pointer this time around in a tense game in which both halves were dominated by the boot.

Four penalties from fly-half Clement Darbo and one from Nicolas Laharrague saw Grenoble home, with three penalties from full back Jerome Porical all Stade could muster in return.

Grenoble struck first through Darbo with eight minutes played, although Porical had already missed his first shot at the posts by then.

The Stade No15 made amends with a brace of kicks after 15 and 20 minutes, with Grenoble failing with three shots at goal of their own through Darbo’s two unsuccessful penalties and Laharrague’s off-target drop goal.

Porical followed the hosts’ example with a second miss just past the half hour and that allowed Darbo to ensure the sides were level at the break thanks to his 36th-minute strike.

Darbo and Porical exchanged three pointers before the hour but Grenoble went ahead again with Darbo’s fourth successful strike moments after Stade scrum-half Jerome Fillol saw yellow on 61 minutes.

In keeping with a nervy affair, Porical then missed a drop goal attempt that would have leveled affairs on 67 minutes, with Laharrague making him pay with his side’s fifth and final penalty with seven minutes left to play.