Grenoble secured a return to the Top 14 after they thumped Oyonnax at Stade des Alpes, winning 47-22 in the promotion/relegation play-off.
Crossings from Lolagi Visinia (2), David Mele, Ali Oz, Alisona Taumalolo, Bastien Guillemin and Paulin Mas saw them into the top flight.
In reply the relegated Oyonnax’s tries came via Daniel Ikpefan (2) and Axel Muller as they now drop down to Pro D2 after a poor season.
Grenoble were cruising at 28-10 up at the break as they crossed four times, putting the disappointment of the Pro D2 final defeat to rest.
Visinia went over first on seven minutes before Mele added a second four minutes later, as the scrum-half converted both tries for 14-0.
Ben Botica struck a penalty on 15 minutes and when he converted Ikpefan’s try on 22 minutes suddenly Oyonnax were only 14-10 adrift.
But then came scores from Grenoble props Oz and Taumalolo in the closing seven minutes of the first-half to give them breathing space.
Crucially for Oyonnax they got the first points of the second stanza when Ikpefan grabbed his second try on 52 minutes that made it 28-17.
But Grenoble hit back on 65 minutes through wing Guillemin’s score before Visinia went over for his brace to extend the margin to 23 points.
There was still time for a seventh Grenoble try as replacement hooker Mas got over to add the gloss before Muller hit back in the final minute for Oyonnax. It mattered not to Grenoble though who booked their return to Top 14 rugby in emphatic style at Stade des Alpes.
The scorers:
For Grenoble:
Tries: Visinia 2, Mele, Oz, Taumalolo, Guillemin, Mas
Cons: Mele 4, Pourteau, Francis
For Oyonnax:
Tries: Ikpefan 2, Muller
Cons: Botica 2
Pen: Botica
Grenoble: 15 Lolagi Visinia, 14 Bastien Guillemin, 13 Alaska Taufa, 12 Nigel Hunt, 11 Lucas Dupont, 10 Franck Pourteau, 9 David Mele, 8 Loic Godener, 7 Dylan Hayes, 6 Steven Setephano, 5 Mickael Capelli, 4 Francois Uys, 3 Ali Oz, 2 Etienne Fourcade, 1 Alisona Taumalolo
Replacements: 16 Paulin Mas, 17 Benat Auzqui, 18 Hans Nkinsi, 19 Killian Geraci, 20 Jérémy Valencot, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Etienne Dussartre, 23 Ropate Rinadau Rinakama
Oyonnax: 15 Quentin Etienne, 14 Axel Muller, 13 Mitch Inman, 12 Ulupano Seuteni, 11 Daniel Ikpefan, 10 Ben Botica, 9 James Hall, 8 Rory Grice, 7 Bilel Taieb, 6 Hikawera Elliot, 5 Valentin Ursache, 4 Phoenix Battye, 3 Irakli Mirtskhulava, 2 Quentin MacDonald, 1 Tommy Raynaud
Replacements: 16 Benjamin Geledan, 17 Khatchik Vartan, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Patrick Sobela, 20 Jeremy Gondrand, 21 Maxime Veau, 22 Dug Codjo, 23 Pietro Ceccarelli
Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas, Jean luc Rebollal
TMO: Maxime Chalon
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