France Elite Teams By Season : 2005-06

In my historical countdown for the elite French RL, I have started to run out of match results. This means some points will not be able to be handed out after this edition. Still, I will provide what I can and if by chance I am able to add to later I will. For this season, it is OK.

League: Eleven teams lined up, with the addition of RC Carpentras XIII. SM Pia took the league with a 55 point haul, ahead of Toulouse Olympique who collected 52 points. The Limoux Grizzlies came next on 49 points and UTC (aka St Estève-Catalan) with 47. RC Saint-Gaudens came in 5th with 46 points.

Finals: Villefranche XIII and Villeneuve XIII Aveyron were the first to go, defeated by Limoux Grizzlies and UTC 64-0 and 28-20 respectively. The other qualifier of the round had RC Saint-Gaudens easily overcome AS Carcassonne 58-19.

The next round had two sudden death matches in which UTC squeaked home 28-26 against Saint-Gaudens and Villeneuve defeated Limoux 27-16. The demi-finales were between SM Pia and UTC (30-12) and Toulouse against Villeneuve (45-12).

The grand final pitted the top two teams from the league. Again Pia took the honours over Toulouse, this time narrowly 21-18. 5,500 spectators were at Toulouse to watch.

Lord Derby Cup: Starting at the quarter finals Union Sportive Entraigues XIII took on FC Lézignan but lost 14-72. SM Pia were too good for Saint-Gaudens, winning 38-6. Limoux overcame Carcassonne 36-11 and Toulouse beat UTC 44-12.

Then came the semis with Lézignan defeating Limoux by 18-17 and SM Pia too strong for Toulouse 32-6. The cup final was between SM Pia and Lézignan which went 36-20 in Pia's favour. Over 9,300 attended at Carcassonne.

Summary: SM Pia took the treble this year, winning everything and I awarded them 60 points for that effort.. Toulouse Olympique XIII came next on 46 points with a second in the league, losing the grand final and cup semi finalists. The Limoux Grizzlies collected 34 points and UTC 32.

	Rk	Team	Rnd	Fls	LD	Tot
	1	Pia	20	20	20	60
	2	Toulouse	18	16	12	46
	3	Limoux	16	6	12	34
	4	UTC	14	12	6	32
	5	Lézignan	8		16	24
	5	St Gaudens	12	6	6	24
	7	Villeneuve	10	12		22
	8	Carcassonne	11	2	6	19
	9	Villerfranche	9	2		11
	10	Lyon Villeurb	7			7
	12	Marseille	6			6
	12	Entraigues			6	6
		Total	131	76	84	291

For the 2004/05 season, simply click here.
For the 2006/07 season, please click here.