France Elite Teams By Season : 2017-2018

The French RL moved their competition over to summer, which more closely aligns the two main RL nations in Europe in terms of their seasons. Ten sides made up the Elite One division, the competition kicking off in December, 2017. The same sides competed as in the previous year.

Elite League: St Estève-XIII-catalan won the title with 40 points, ahead of Limoux on 45. Lézignan (40), Avignon (38), Carcassonne (35) and Albi (33) followed. These sides would form the phase finale contingent.

Lord Derby Cup: The quarter finals were: AS Carcassonne 8-10 FC Lézignan, Villegailhenc 20-28 Albi RL XIII, Limoux 30-18 Palau Broncos and St Estève-XIII-catalan 50-12 SO Avignon.

The semi finals had Albi going down to Limoux 16-28 and St Estève-XIII-catalan defeated Lézignan 38-26. The final was held at the Stade Gilbert Brutus stadium in Perpignan. The home side St Estève-XIII-catalan narrowly won 30-26 over Limoux. It was 16-12 at half time and 26-26 at the full time. Golden point extra time was played and the winning try was scored. 5,243 were in attendance.

The video above features highlights of the Lord Derby Cup grand final.

Grand Final Series: Known as the phase finale, six sides played for the grand final trophy. Avignon took on Carcassonne and won 18-16, while Lézignan defeated Albi 28-24.

Avignon progressed to a match with St Estève-XIII-catalan, the latter winning 23-16. However, St Estève had the victory taken off them due to playing two players that were not eligible. In the other game, Lézignan were too strong for Limoux, the final score 30-10.

The grand final was played at the municipal stadium, Albi, where Avignon took the trophy with a 34-28 victory over Lézignan. Avignon must be very happy to have even made the final, but to win against a more favoured rival was a real bonus.

Summary: I have allocated points to the teams in the Elite One League, Lord Derby Cup and grand final series. St Estève-XIII-catalan came out on top, just, with 52 points. Winning the league and cup final plus being semi finalist in the grand finals gave them the title of best team in france 2018.

Just behind was Limoux who came second in the league and lost in the two finals. So close but so far. Lézignan and Albi both took 40 points, with the former winning the Grand Final.

	Rk	Team	Rnd	Fls	LD	Tot
	1	St Estève-Catalan	20	12	20	52
	2	Limoux	18	16	16	50
	3	Lézignan	16	12	12	40
	3	Avignon	14	20	6	40
	5	Albi	11	6	12	29
	6	Carcassonne	12	6	6	24
	7	Palau-de-Vidre	9		6	15
	8	St-Gaudens	10			10
	9	Villeneuve	8			8
	10	Toulouse	7			7
	11	Villegailhenc			6	6
		Total	125	72	84	281

For the 2016/17 season, please click here.

For the 2019 season, please click here.