France Women Elite 1: 2026

After extensive searching for historical information of the women's game in France, it became obvious that it has virtually zero recognition or interest. Had I been following year by year, I presume I'd have more information but posted, it doesn't remain long on the Internet. 

Cup Final: Lescure Arthes led 14-4 at half time and 20-4 with a quarter of the game remaining. Then St Estève Catalan made a stunning comeback but just fell short 20-18. 

League: To the right is the 2026 season. Only five sides competed, although the Elite 2 has seven teams. Why not six each? Regardless, each team plays the others twice.

The top two are evenly matched but the rest are some way below, the points difference indicating the gap. Limoux is straddles the two each side of it. 

Finals: In the semi finals, Lescure Arthes cruised into the final 60-0, The other game was a draw, with Limoux advancing due to outscoring St Estève Catalan 4-3 in tries. A novel way of deciding.

The Final: The semi final scores probably determined who was likely to win if not the league table. Lescure Arthes won 46-6 after leading 10-6 at the break. Full coverage of the game is below.  You may want to go past some extraneous content.

UK Women's Challenge Cup: 2026

The women's version is different to the men's. There were eleven teams participating and they played in four groups of three with one group with just two sides. Then it went to the quarter finals with only three teams dropping out. For the two team group, they both qualified, which I found odd.

It didn't make any difference as one team is head and shoulders above the rest of the teams. That is confirmed by the results below. In fact, depth is one thing the women's game in the UK is embarrassingly short of. All about a lack of funding for many clubs.

In the quarter finals, only Huddersfield put up any sort of resistance. In the semi finals, Leeds and Saints was a contest but Wign overran York. Saints won the final two years ago, defeating Leeds. Last year, Wigan won the trophy 42-6. The question was could Saints reverse that? 

Only a rabid Saint's apologist would have thought so. Wigan thrashed them 52-6 after leading 28-6 at the break. The highlights video is below. 

Photo: Wigan Warriors.

UK Men's Challenge Cup: 2026

Sixty seven teams over seven rounds. The last eight assembled for round five, all of the survivors being in the top Super League. The four winners I would have tipped to progress. The same could have been said in round six as cup holders Hull KR defended their title against twenty one times winner Wigan Warriors.

When these two sides met just over a week ago, KR put out a full strength side against a Wigan reserve team. KR cruised home 62-4. This time it was the best Wigan side.

Wigan came in at half time up 10-4 but looked in control. A momentum swing was required by Hull but it never came. Wigan ran away with the final 40-10. To see highlights, there is a video below.