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Bernard Jackman revisits the infamous Grenoble dessert debacle

Former Grenoble head coach Bernard Jackman has been appointed as head coach of Newport Gwent Dragons (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)

Bernard Jackman gave listeners of Le French Rugby Podcast food for thought when recounting the dessert drama which took place during his tenure in Grenoble.

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The French press would claim that the now infamous 2016 row over the desserts would lay the foundation for his eventual exit from the side in 2017, such was the significance of le dessert to the French side.

The Irishman worked for the Grenoble between 2011 and 2017, joining as an assistant before later becoming the head coach. Grenoble won promotion to the Top-14 not long after Jackman’s arrival but eventually succumbed to relegation in 2017.

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      Le French Rugby Podcast – Greig Laidlaw | Episode 22

      We’re joined by former Scotland captain and ex-Clermont scrum half Greig Laidlaw to discuss whether the Scots can be the ones to stop this France side and beat them in the Six Nations for a third straight year. We chat about how to stop Antoine Dupont, the physicality advantage of the French, Finn Russell’s need to bounce back and the selection issues both sides face. Plus, there’s a couple of crazy red cards in the same Top 14 game to mull over and we pick our MEATER Moment Of The Week…
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      Fighting against relegation was one of the many challenges he faced with the club, but the most bizarre dilemma came off the field.

      “The desserts in France are beautiful,” Jackman admitted. “We’d have them at dinner and the ones that were left over would come out with breakfast. Some of the boys would have their café and a little tart at breakfast. And then at lunchtime there were more desserts too.

      The temptation of eating French desserts became a sticking point for Jackman when the Grenoble squad returned from pre-season in poor physical shape.

      “We went on a training camp before our fourth year in the Top-14, so everybody was getting really comfortable,” he said. “Some of the boys got back and their body compositions were ridiculously bad. Now I was always in fat club myself so I’m not saying I was a saint but I used to get out of that club at some stage.

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      “We were getting them up at six o’clock in the morning to give them extra cardio and then they’re having chocolate cakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

      Unhappy with the sweet treats on offer, Jackman decided to take action, pulling aside the team doctor to vent his anger. What he found was an unwillingness across the board for Frenchmen to relinquish their puddings.

      “I went to the team doctor, who had more power than the head of strength and conditioning over there in Grenoble, and asked him what was going on and he said: “they’re training so hard, they need it for their mind.” I just said to him that half these lads are in fat club.”

      Unwillingly, the team doctor acted on Jackman’s calls and spoke to some of the players. The reaction was not positive, with hooker Arnaud Héguy complaining that coaches should not get involved in nutrition and dieting.

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      Change did come though, with all parties eventually agreeing desserts would only be eaten at dinnertime. Inevitably this story made its way into the mainstream media and Jackman believes a few untruths were told along the way.

      “It became that I was trying to ban desserts, which I never did. I like desserts.”

      After leaving Grenoble, Jackman joined the Dragons for a season and is now the head coach of Bective Rangers FC who play in the Leinster Branch in Dublin.

      Meanwhile, Héguy has become the Grenoble forwards coach at a time when the side is flirting with relegation from the French second division.

      “It’s a tough first big coaching gig for Arnaud because they’re down the bottom of the table,” Jackman admitted. “Hopefully they can survive. When a club starts to slip like that, relegation can kill a club.”

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      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 49 minutes ago
      Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

      Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


      I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

      Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

      Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


      Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

      many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

      They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

      “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

      You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

      30 Go to comments
      J
      JW 1 hour ago
      New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

      But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


      He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


      I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


      Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


      Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

      the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

      This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

      147 Go to comments
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