It’s not easy being Bernard Jackman. The head coach of Grenoble is put through the wringer every time his team plays. Last weekend for example, he watched as visitors Castres raced into a 17-3 lead within the first half-hour. His despair turned to hope as Grenoble reduced the deficit to 23-21 with 15 minutes remaining but Castres clung on for a 33-28 win. The defensive bonus point was scant consolation, as were the plaudits for another high tempo display from Grenoble.

As they showed the previous week in beating Connacht 33-32 in the Challenge Cup quarter-final, Grenoble are a team that play with pace, power, panache – and, yes, occasionally, imprecision. “Coaching is always a rollercoaster,” admits Jackman. “Coaching Grenoble drives you bananas.”

A glance at some of Grenoble’s scorelines in 2016 and you see what he means: a 33-27 victory away at Agen, a 35-39 loss to Racing, a 26-22 victory against Brive and a 39-23 win over La Rochelle. It was the narrow defeat at home to Racing in February that Jackman cites as the match that’s defined their season and taken them to the brink of their first European final. “There were key moments in that Racing game where we needed more composure and clarity in what we were trying to do,” explains Jackman. “Since then we’ve tried to simulate those moments in training, what they call the ‘money time’ moments. It’s about being precise in what we do, improving our composure and we saw the benefits against Connacht.”

Irish connection: Irish centre Chris Farrell makes a break against Castres

It was one of the matches of the season, a game in which both clubs contributed to 80 minutes of rugby where fortunes fluctuated and nerves frayed. The Irish visitors were cruising at one point in the first half, 19-3 ahead and set fair for the semi-final. “If you look at traditional French games, when one side goes 19-3 down they often give up,” says Jackman. “But we’ve worked hard on not panicking but rather refocusing on our style of play. We could easily have lost to Connacht because we conceded some soft tries, but ultimately we got ourselves into a position to take a drop goal and then we executed it.”

Grenoble’s Jonathan Wisniewski scored a full-house against Connacht (a try, a drop goal, three penalties and three conversions), the 30-year-old once again demonstrating that for a French fly-half he has a rare composure. Every half-back partnership is important to the success of a side, but Jackman says Grenoble owe so much to Wisniewski and South African scrum-half Charl McLeod. “Last season they were phenomenal individually but they lacked an understanding of each other’s game,” says the Irishman. “They have that this season and their experience and ability to close out the game was crucial against Connacht.”

Key man: Grenoble’s outside-half Jonathan Wisniewski will need to kick his goals against Quins

Jackman knows that Grenoble will be underdogs at the Stoop on Friday, but he’s happy with that, able indeed to draw on his own experience as the Leinster hooker in 2009. “We edged past Harlequins in the quarter-final – it was the bloodgate match – and few people gave us much of a chance against Munster in the semis. But we walloped them [25-6] and went on to beat Leicester in the final. That’s knockout rugby for you. But for most of our squad it’s new, whereas Connacht and Harlequins have much more experience of it.

“But our cup run has been a boost in terms of developing the squad. The Top 14 can become a little repetitive, talking about the same players and the same game plans, so it’s been great to get stuck into new teams in different leagues, and analyse them forensically.”

Jackman has nothing but praise for Quins and singles out their ‘philosophy’ as their greatest strength. It’s a philosophy, he says, that he’s trying to instil at Grenoble and he makes no secret of his admiration for Quins coach Conor O’Shea. “I’ve gone to Conor in the past for advice,” admits the 39-year-old Jackman. “Last season we got ourselves in a relegation battle and before the last game of the season [a game they had to win to avoid the drop to ProD2] I spoke to Conor and I said it was probably my fault that we were in trouble. I felt in hindsight we’d overplayed at times, attacked too much in games, when perhaps we should have shut up shop.

Danger man: Mike Brown is part of a skilful Harlequins back three

“Conor said ‘never beat yourself up for overplaying’. And if you look at Quins, they play to that philosophy. They are one of the most dangerous teams in the Premierships because they don’t have as much structure as some other teams and they take more risks. Look at their back three of Tim Visser, Mike Brown and Marland Yarde: they will punish you, particularly in those unstructured situations…that’s what I’m most concerned about this weekend.”

The manner of Grenoble’s win over Connacht caught the eye of the Irish press, and one article in the Irish Times last week predicted great things for Jackman in the not-too-distant future. Is the flattery going to his head? “It’s nice,” he says, laughing. “I think I’m on the right track but if I’m to be mentioned in the same breath as Mark McCall, David Humphreys and Conor, I need some silverware behind me first.

Mutual respect: Jackman is flattered to be mentioned alongside Conor O’Shea

“I’m also not ready to go into international coaching. It requires a different mindset. You’re managing players more than developing them. I enjoy the day to day contact of coaching at a club, of seeing players improve technically and tactically. Right now, it’s important for me to keep learning how to do that.”