Silvere Tian left enraged by Roman Poite decision

Paul O’Connell and Roman Poite have never been far apart where controversial refereeing decisions are concerned and as the former Irish captain’s week in Grenoble concluded, the French official was again centre stage.

Tue, 05 Apr, 2016 - 01:00

John Fallon

It had nothing to do with O’Connell, rather the reaction of Oyonnax full-back Silvere Tian when he was pinged for a ruck infringement in the closing stages of their home match against Grenoble.

The Ivory Coast native was incensed with a yellow card, which Poite then promptly upgraded to red and at the end of the match players and officials had to keep the livid Tian from having a go at the referee as he left the pitch.

On the pitch Grenoble gave themselves a boost before they play Connacht with a 27-20 win. It was their second win in a row, having defeated La Rochelle 39-23 the previous week.

They have now won 10 and lost 10 in the Top 14 and moved up to eighth in the table on 46 points, seven points off Toulouse in the final play-off spot.

Saturday’s game is a repeat of the 2004-05 quarter-final which saw Connacht defeat Grenoble over two legs.

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