Triumph by the French in small groups (7)
I believe the answer is:
couples
'small groups' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both groups as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'triumph by the french' is the wordplay.
'triumph' becomes 'coup' (I've seen this before).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the french' becomes 'les' (plural form of 'the' in French).
'coup'+'les'='COUPLES'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for couples that I've seen before include "People with their partners" , "Pairs" .)