Perpignan secures its place in the Top 14 by overcoming Grenoble, the doomed finalist of the play-offs

Perpignan is used to life-or-death matches; it's almost their destiny every year at the start of the Top 14 season. They did not fail to uphold the tradition on Saturday, June 14. The Catalans of USAP confirmed their survival in the elite of professional rugby, winning at the expense of Grenoble (11-13), at the Stade des Alpes, at the end of a promotion match that was undecided until the end. It was a final penalty kicked by Italian international Tommaso Allan that gave the Blood and Gold the victory in the ^77th minute, while they were trailing 11-10 after a penalty scored two minutes earlier by Romain Trouilloud.

Thirteenth in the Top 14 regular season, battling Stade Français Paris until the final day of the championship, USAP defeated FCG in the playoffs for the second time in three years. In 2023, they won 33-19, already in Grenoble. They also secured their survival in 2022, in this qualifying match against Mont-de-Marsan (41-16) in 2022.

Beaten by Montauban (24-19) a week ago, for the third time in the second division final, FC Grenoble, for its part, missed its sixth opportunity to reach the elite of French rugby. Regular season champions with 98 points, the Isérois even conceded their first defeat of the season at their Stade des Alpes, which was sold out on Saturday with nearly 20,000 spectators.

The match didn't start well for the Isérois, who were surprised from the start by the physical fight imposed by the Catalans who quickly opened the scoring with a try from winger Tavite Veredamu, converted by Tommaso Allan in the ^2nd minute. It was the only notable action from USAP in the first half. Gradually, Grenoble got to the level of their opponents and took the upper hand in the touchline, in particular.

But the home side were denied two tries after video refereeing, scored by Wilfried Hulleu ( ^15th , ^19th ). On the first, the Grenoble winger was beaten to the ball by Veredamu and on the second, it was a knock-on on the final pass that was noted. But the try by second row Thomas Lainault, obtained after a five-meter scrum, brought FCG back to 7-5, Sam Davies having missed the conversion. The latter, however, gave his team the lead just before half-time with a penalty (8-7, ^38th ).

The second half was very difficult for the Isérois with a lot of pressure from Perpignan, including a try from center Jeronimo de La Fuente which was disallowed for a knock-on ( ^53rd ). The FCG defense was heroic, but the Grenoblois finally cracked in the final moments, at the end of a second half where they did not show enough danger.