Grenoble head coach Bernard Jackman leads his team against former club Connacht in the Challenge Cup quarter-final on Saturday night and while he rates Connacht highly, he also believes home advantage could prove key for his side (8.05pm, live on RTÉ Radio 1).
Jackman, who had two stints at Connacht as a player, was full of praise for the westerners and is looking forward to Grenoble’s first outing in the knock-out stages.
He said: “It’s our first season in the knock-out stages of the European competition. We played Connacht in a pre-season friendly, but we certainly didn’t think we’d be getting a chance to play against them later on this year.
“We beat Brive and La Rochelle, but before that we lost to Claremont and Racing, so for us it’s about rebuilding a fortress that Stade des Alpes can be for us..."
“It’s been great to be honest, the interest in the match is huge. Over the last four or five weeks we’ve started to get a real good look at what Connacht are doing with a view to this game.
"For me, it’s incredibly impressive the improvement they’ve made.”
Jackman explained his priorities for the season.
The Tullow man continued: “This year my president told me my objective for the season was to finish in the top eight of the Top 14 and to qualify out of our group in the Challenge Cup, so it was a priority for us.
“We got over that first hurdle of qualifying and then when you get to a quarter-final obviously you want to go the whole way. The Top 14 is the bread and butter but, as I said, we set the stall early on that we wanted to take it seriously.
“We got out of a group with London Irish, Agen and Edinburgh in first place, got a home draw and it’s brilliant to have a game this weekend.
“There’s other teams in France resting up and in Ireland, Leinster, Munster and Ulster are out, so to have a knock-out game at this stage of the season in a different competition brings a freshness and new challenge.”
Grenoble, who currently lie eighth in the Top 14 have a big match next up against Castres, one place above them, and some in Connacht might hope for a weakened side tomorrow night.
But Jackman has scuppered any thoughts of that, saying: “We’ve a tough game against Castres next week so we won’t be playing anyone who has a knock. But certainly we want to win the game and we’ll put our best team available out for sure.”
“We’ve 18 over for dinner on Friday night and we’ve rented two mini buses so it’s going to be a good weekend"
Jackman admits in the past that might have been the case, adding: “We, in the past, have used it (Challenge Cup) as a means to give young players a chance, because the Top 14 every game is so important you don’t really get that chance.
“But this year they (French Federation) gave a bonus of €150,000 to any French club who qualified out of their group, hence my president telling me to make sure we got out!
“Now my players have bought into it, the final is in Lyon this year, which is an hour up the road and to get there is our goal.”
And when asked, the former Irish international hooker says home advantage could count in his side's favour, saying: “Yeah I think so, I think it's important for us. We won our last few games at home.
“We beat Brive and La Rochelle, but before that we lost to Claremont and Racing, so for us it’s about rebuilding a fortress that Stade des Alpes can be for us when we perform.
“I think there’s very little difference between the teams. Both teams like to play with ball in hand, we both like to attack, and sometimes that leads to tries conceded, but if both teams keep that same ambition it promises to be a free-flowing game and then it’s about the team that takes their chances is going to win.”
Jackman had special praise Connacht’s progress this season. He said: “I’d obviously keep an eye on the Pro12 and I’ve seen Connacht develop week-on-week.
“When we started to analyse them we work three weeks in advance in terms of opposition and my video analyst came into my office four or five times telling me how good Connacht are and how well-coached they are. And we can see that as a coaching staff as well. They’re there on merit.
“They’ve developed young Irish players, mixed them with some very good foreigners and are unbelievably well coached so they’re there on merit, that’s for sure.”
Jackman and Mike Prendergast, who he has on his team as a skills coach, also have the added stress of their Irish visitors to cater for over the weekend, saying: “We’ve 18 over for dinner on Friday night and we’ve rented two mini buses so it’s going to be a good weekend.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to show off our adopted city here and off the field it’s definitely going to be good fun, but it’s important we make sure we get the performance right on Saturday.”
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