That’s the magic of rugby. We may fly over our championship, but we still have to go through the final stages to win a title. And in the exercise, Oyonnax did not fail, this Saturday evening at the Ernest-Wallon stadium in Toulouse. Winner of Grenoble (14-3) in a very forgettable Pro D2 final, the Ain club mainly obtained its accession to the Top 14, five years after having left it.
At the time, “Oyo” had lost the accession barrage (22-47) against the same opponent from Isère, who had thus reached the elite. This time, the team coached by Joe El Abd enforced the logic, after having wandered during the 30 days of the regular phase, concluded with 24 points ahead of their Grenoble runner-up.
Grenoble against Perpignan or Pau to go up too
This one can still hope to accompany his executioner of the evening in the elevator, on the condition of winning the next weekend his accession play-off, at home, against the 13th of the Top 14. His opponent will be known at the end of the last day, Sunday evening (very probably Perpignan, even if Pau is not out of the woods yet).
Oyonnax will for its part try to survive in the elite of French rugby, where it will represent the smallest town with its 22,000 inhabitants. This is his third stint at this level after 2013-2016 and 2017-2018. Then trained by the emblematic Christophe Urios, now in Clermont, the “Oyomen” had had the best season in their history in 2014-2015: sixth place in the Top 14, short defeat in the play-off in Toulouse (20-19) and qualification for the big European Cup.