Troubled Grenoble hold Toulon
Grenoble were playing two days after deciding to sack players facing accusations of drugging and raping a girl they met in a nightclub. The identities of the players and how many are accused have not been revealed.
But the team responded well on the pitch, maintaining an unbeaten home stretch dating back to early December, although the club has racked up only five victories this season.
The draw also meant that Toulon haven't won away in the Top 14 since September 11, at Toulouse.
But they do move up into fifth, sixth-placed Castres two points adrift with a game in hand after their match against Stade Francais was postponed after Stade players continued strike action in protest at the plan to unify the club with Paris rivals Racing 92.
Toulon were to wear pink armbands in support of the Stade players' actions, but that came to nothing after the proposed merger was called off just before the match.
Toulon opened the scoring after Romain Taofifenua bumped his way through four tackles of a porous defence for a try converted by Pierre Bernard.
A break by Bernard saw the flyhalf pop the ball up for prop Laurent Delboulbes to crash over. A second conversion and penalty took Toulon out to 17-0 up and a whitewash looked on the cards.
But to the home crowd's delight and despite being down to 14 men with Fabien Alexandre in the sin bin for a high tackle, Fijian back Maritino Nemani easily stepped Mathieu Bastareaud for a try converted by Wisniewski for a perfect boost on the stroke of half-time.
The Grenoble captain, with rumours swirling that he will sign for Toulon next season, traded penalties with Bernard early in the second period. Toulon's Australian flank Liam Gill was yellow carded in the 64th minute for a ruck infringement, Wisniewski on the mark again to cut the visitors' lead to four points.
But then came an arcing run from Grenoble fullback Fabien Gengenbacher, who split the leaden-footed defence down the left flank and passed inside to Australian flank Henry Vanderglas for the try.
The home side needed the conversion for the draw and Wisniewski held his nerve, landing the extras off the post to tie the scores.
Earlier Sunday, Alexis Palisson went over for a hat-trick as Toulouse ran in five tries in their 42-26 victory over Lyon, who themselves ran in four tries. Jean-Marc Doussain kicked 20 points as Julien Marchand and Gillian Galan also crossed the whitewash for Toulouse.
On Saturday, La Rochelle racked up an eighth successive victory with a 36-17 stroll against Brive to consolidate their spot at the top the table.
Clermont, eight points adrift of La Rochelle, condemned Pau to a nine-try 65-13 rout, and are now eight points ahead of third-placed Montpellier, whose match against Racing was also postponed because of the merger talks.
Top 14 results
Grenoble 23-23 Toulon
Toulouse 42-26 Lyon
Bayonne 24-20 Bordeaux
Clermont 65-13 Pau
La Rochelle 36-17 Brive
Castres v Stade Francais – postponed
Montpellier v Racing 92 – postponed
French Top 14 table
(played, won, drawn, lost, points for, points against, bonus points, total points)
La Rochelle 21 14 3 4 577 384 9 71
Clermont 21 12 3 6 643 445 9 63
Montpellier 20 12 0 8 492 431 7 55
Pau 21 11 1 9 499 534 6 52
Toulon 21 10 2 9 549 432 10 53
Castres 20 11 1 8 505 398 5 51
Bordeaux 21 9 1 11 489 487 7 45
Racing92 20 10 1 9 467 451 3 45
Brive 21 10 1 10 444 507 2 44
Toulouse 20 9 0 11 406 408 7 43
Lyon 20 8 2 10 408 466 5 41
Stade Français 20 8 1 11 480 512 6 40
Grenoble 21 5 1 15 470 655 7 29
Bayonne 21 5 3 13 366 685 0 26
Agence France-Presse
