Parker Pen Provides Boost

By Ridley
October 14 2002

The breath of Alpine air looks to have done the trick. The 19-12 victory in Grenoble could well be the tonic we were looking for ... we won with aggression and some style and broke the away game hoodoo with a committed performance which means we should progress to the next round.

But the victory was won at a price. Micky Ward and James Isaacson came off worse in the bruising encounter which saw Irish ref Simon McDowell escorted off the pitch by a phalanx of stewards.

Micky was singled out by Rob Andrew for his performance as he fought on with a badly injured shoulder which looks like keeping him out of the home leg this weekend.

Dunbar also picked up a first half knock and had to retire from back rown which included Hugh Vyvyan at 8.

Isaacson had to go with a leg injury in a frantic second half which saw Falcons defending their lead.

We opened the scoring with three Wilkinson penalties before Grenoble scored from a line out.

Wilkinson scored another before Marius Hurter got our try. It also came from a line-out with the forwards driving him over.

We were leading 19-5 at half time and, by all accounts, the game became quite tasty in the second half as Grenoble fought back. But all they had to show was a 70th minute converted try.

The home fans were angry at McDowell's strict interpretation of the rules which drew rare compliments from Rob. Vive la difference!

Grenoble: Carmona, Joubert, Orengo, Yates, Bertrand, Rees, Authier, Balan [Lechvalier 70], Martin-Culet, Bigou [Vigna 40], Jackson, Correa [Blakie 55], Frier, Chazalet [Corodeanu 50], Brown.

Falcons: M Wilkinson, Botham, Noon [Godman 45-50], May, Stephenson, J Wilkinson, Grindal, Ward [Isaccson 2-12], Bortherstone [Makin 75], Hurter, Grimes, Hamilton, Dunbar [Isaacson 34-40][Makin 40], Arnold, Vyvyan.