Focus on a little-known player in the French championship, but who nevertheless made his place in the Grenoble starting XV thanks to certain experience and know-how. He was one of the key players in FCG's victory at Oyonnax.
At 30, Richard Hardwick has built up solid high-level experience, acquired in Super Rugby (Western Force, Rebels), in the Championship (Ealing Trailfinders) or in the jersey of Namibia (5 selections including 4 in the last World Cup). Arriving at the start of summer in Isère, the third center line gradually made his place in the integrated group for the first time, as a substitute, during the trip to Aurillac with the completion of a try to mark his debut with the FCG.
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Pro D2 – Grenoble, winner on the Oyonnax lawn as a boss
Since then, the man who in 2017 had played two test matches with Australia, has played without interruption on the match sheets with Grenoble, first as a substitute then as a starter during the last four days. On the lawn of the Charles-Mathon stadium, within a young and revamped group, he fully assumed a leadership role. The try that he scored in force at the start of the second half, although refused after recourse to the video due to an Oyonnaxian hand slipped under the ball at the moment of touch in the in-goal, was only a illustration of a total investment in the service of the group both in defensive tasks (12 successful tackles in 76 minutes of play) and in offensive animation by impacting the Oyonnax defense. Like his team, the Grenoble third row delivered a benchmark match in Haut-Bugey by asserting himself as a leader.
France
Rugby
