Grenoble go back up by routing Oyonnax
Grenoble will join Perpignan in the Top 14 next season at the expense of Oyonnax after an amazing winnertake-all showdown in the French Alps.
Grenoble, hammered days ago by Perpignan in an historic play-off for the Division Two champions’ trophy and automatic promotion, somehow found the resolve to go up anyway.
They knocked Oyonnax out of the Top 14 with seven tries in a 47-22 victory in front of a full house of delirious fans on their own ground.
Thereby making good the pre-game promise of scrum-half David Mele who, at 32, vowed to leave Grenoble in the elite where he found them two years ago.
“I was part of the team that took them down,” he said, “and so I want to put them back there.”
A triumph of will for Mele, once consigned to a handful of games in two seasons with Leicester before returning to France.
It was an exploit all the more emotional because he knew his own place in the Top 14 was already secure after signing a deal to rejoin Perpignan, the club of his heart with whom he won the French title as a young man nine years ago.
For Oyonnax, the heavy defeat was the more sickening for a miraculous run that had lifted them out of a seemingly impossible place propping up the table and given them a last chance of redemption.
The main architect of that recovery was Ben Botica, the one-time Harlequin who had what a team-mate described as “brain freeze” when kicking away a chance to secure a draw with Montpellier in the European Challenge Cup final two years ago.
Those little grey cells are in perfect working order now as 320 points, far more than anyone else in the Top 14 has managed, now stand against his name.
They call him Big Ben for that metronomic accuracy. He kicked his 69th penalty of the season and created two tries for his winger Daniel Ikpefan.
But all he has to remember for his prodigious efforts is a return to the Division Two grind he did so much last season to leave behind with Oyonnax.
Few gave Grenoble much of a chance in this Alpine derby because their pack had crumbled alarmingly in the 38-13 defeat by Perpignan whose 15,000 fans had crammed into the supposedly neutral home of Toulouse last weekend.
Their spirit was said to have been crushed, their bodies drained by a test of stamina in a packed programme Oyonnax had been spared.
Lucas Dupont, one of their wingers, even complained that the League had created the new relegation-promotion formula to favour Top 14 teams.
In the end, though, Mele, who scored one of four first-half tries, came off early to a standing ovation with tears of joy streaming down the face of Grenoble coach Stephane Glas, the former France and Stade Francais centre.
Glas had many other heroes to congratulate, men like Kiwi full-back Lolagi Visinia who scored tries at both ends of the game. He was to have joined Perpignan, himself, if Grenoble had lost and may now be persuaded to stay.
Like the pair of props Ali Oz, a 23-year-old local product, and Tongan Alisona Taulalolu who, at 36, was playing his last and most unforgettable game for Grenoble.
Both scored first-half tries for their team to take a 28-10 lead at the break, a lead which began to look more fragile when Ikpefan, a target for Bordeaux-Begles, doubled his score.
But, against most expectations, Grenoble went on to score more tries, two within three minutes from winger Bastien Guillemin and Visinia.
A total thrill for Guillemin who, at just 20, had played only eight minutes as a sub before starting his first full season in the team. It was his fifth try in their colours and secured a lifelong memory.
Then hooker Paulin Mas who, at 22, had never started a game for Grenoble, came off the bench to score their concluding try seconds later.
An utter humiliation for Oyonnax whose Argentine winger Axel Muller, on a season-long loan from Toulon, still found time to touch down a try. Far too late, of course. So late, in fact, his heartbroken team did not even bother to attempt the conversion.
Now Grenoble can look forward to the popular fervour that turned the main square of Perpignan into a a frenzied demonstration of Catalan pride last Tuesday.
Perpignan were relegated four years ago for the first time in more than 100 years during which they won the French title seven times, mostly in the early years of last century.
They treasure their history. Their stadium is named after Aime Giral, a hero of one of those triumphs who was killed by an exploding shell in the First World War at the age of just 19.
Perpignan’s formidable forwards have been turned into an effective force by their coach Perry Freshwater, a one-time Perpignan and Leicester prop good enough to have been capped by England.
He will work with chief coach Patrick Arlettaz who also played for the club at centre. Both will be meeting Grenoble again. Perhaps a little earlier than they expected.
“Perpignan’s forwards have been turned into an effective force by their coach Perry Freshwater”