Metronomic Wisniewski all but saves Grenoble's Top 14 status

Jonathan Wisniewski's 22 points inspired Grenoble to a 32-11 thumping of Top 14 title hopefuls Toulouse on Saturday to all but secure their elite status for another season.

Grenoble, who had lost their past four games, plunging them into the midst of a relegation battle, outscored Toulouse two tries to one and brought to an end a five-match winning streak for the visitors.

Toulouse produced an insipid performance that may have had something to do with the speculation surrounding the future of their long-serving head coach Guy Noves, who is on the three-man shortlist for the France job post the World Cup.

Victory lifted Grenoble to 52 points, five points clear of second-bottom Bayonne, who ended up at the wrong end of a 38-20 thrashing by play-off hopefuls Bordeaux-Begles, with one match of the season remaining.

Bayonne are a point adrift of third-from-bottom Brive, who were also at the wrong end of a 32-12 thumping by 2013 champions Castres, who in the process all but ensured they stay up after a season to forget.

La Rochelle preserved their status for next season with an 18-18 draw at home to Racing-Metro.

Lyon were relegated on Friday after losing to surprise packages Oyonnax, who consolidated their play-off hopes.

"It's been a difficult two weeks for us, we have barely slept with the anxiety," admitted Grenoble captain Fabien Gengenbacher.

"But today we showed character and class and this should be enough to keep us up."

Grenoble did not begin like a team that was lacking in confidence as they surged into a 10-0 lead.

Nigel Hunt, playing despite having broken a hand a few weeks ago, capitalised on a loose Toulouse pass just outside the visitors' 22 and the 32-year-old Samoan ran it in to touch down.

Wisniewski then landed a superb conversion from the right-hand touchline to add to the penalty with which he had opened the scoring.

Wisniewski added two more penalties to give Grenoble a 16-0 lead before former England fly-half Toby Flood finally opened Toulouse's account with the final kick of the first half to send them in trailing 16-3.

Wisniewski, though, restored the 16-point advantage shortly after the restart and the hosts were given a reprieve when Maxime Medard went over for a try that was ruled out for a forward pass.

Flood slotted a penalty to make it 19-6 with just under half an hour remaining, but Wisniewski replied in kind soon afterwards.

Grenoble, though, suffered a blow in the 63rd minute when the indefatigable flanker Fabien Alexandre was yellow-carded but Toulouse failed to make much of an inroad into the deficit, save for a penalty by Flood.

Indeed it was the home crowd who were sent into raptures as 29-year-old Wisniewski converted a superb penalty with five minutes to go for a 25-11 lead.

Wisniewski was not finished as he showed his creative side in the dying minutes, a deft kick into the Toulouse try area being fumbled by Vincent Clerc into the hands of Daniel Kilioni, who gratefully touched down -- Wisniewski converted to round off a deserved victory.
Source: AFP