France Elite Teams By Season : 2019

Ten clubs made up the Elite One division in 2019, the third consecutive year with that number. The same sides competed in the previous two years as well. They all come from the south east region and below the rankings chart at the bottom there is a colour key of the department and region they are residing. Those colours are, in turn, transferred to the rankings list.

Elite League: Carcassonne won the league with 48 points from last years winner St Estève-XIII-Catalan, this season second with 45 points. Lézignan and Limoux each attained 42 points, then Albi (39) and Villeneuve (36). These sides would form the phase finale contingent.

Lord Derby Cup: The quarter finals games were: Albi RL XIII 20-45 AS Carcassonne, Villegailhenc Aragon 20-28 FC Lézignan, Carpentras 14-50 St Estève-XIII-Catalan, Palau-de-Vidre 14-40 Limoux. All wins for the away team.

The semi finals had Limoux going down to St Estève-XIII-Catalan 12-47 and FC Lézignan suffering the same home team fate, 18-30 to AS Carcassonne. The final was held at the Stade Gilbert Brutus stadium in Perpignan. The home side St Estève-XIII-Catalan could not take advantage of that, going down 6-22 to AS Carcassonne. It was 10-6 at half time and Carcassonne retained the lead throughout, once they got in front.

Grand Final Series: Known as the phase finale, six sides played for the grand final trophy. In the quarter finals, Limoux narrowly defeated Albi 26-24, while Lézignan overcame Villeneuve 35-20. On to the semi finals where Limoux faced Carcassonne, the latter winning 20-16. In the other game, Lézignan were no match for St Estève-XIII-Catalan, the final score 18-38.

The grand final was played at the municipal stadium, Albi, where 2019 arch rivals Carcassonne went head to head with St Estève-XIII-Catalan. Carcassonne were looking for the treble, having already taken the league and cup at St Estève's expense. However, St Estève took the grand final trophy with a 32-24 victory. Carcassonne had a healthy 22-4 half time lead but lost the second period 2-28.

Summary: I have allocated points to the teams in the Elite One League (Rnd), grand final series (Fls) and Lord Derby Cup (LD). Carcassonne narrowly came out on top, just, with 56 points. Winning the league and cup final plus being a finalist in the grand finals gave them the title of best team in France 2018. Just behind was St Estève who came second in the league, cup final but took the grand final, accumulating 54 points. Lézignan took 40 points and Limoux 38.

	Rk	Team	Rnd	Fls	LD	Tot
	1	Carcassonne	20	16	20	56
	2	St Estève-Catalan	18	20	16	54
	3	Lézignan	16	12	12	40
	4	Limoux	14	12	12	38
	5	Albi	12	6	6	24
	6	Villeneuve	11	6		17
	7	Palau-de-Vidre	10		6	16
	8	Avignon	9			9
	9	St-Gaudens	8			8
	10	Toulouse	7			7
	11	Carpentras			6	6
	11	Villegailhenc			6	6
		Total	125	72	84	281
	Department – Region
	Aude – Occitanie
	Pyrénées-Orientales - Occitanie
	Tarn – Occitanie
	Lot-et-Garonne – Nouvelle-Aquitaine
	Vaucluse – Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
	Haute-Garonne – Occitanie

For the 2017/18 season, please click here.

International Results : 2019 June

The international calendar for RL suddenly burst into life. There were matches being played in different locations, some classed as a friendly but the others being part of a series.

21st June, Sydney, Australia (WC qualifying repechage match) Cook Is vs RSA

It was always going to be a big ask that the RSA would be able to contain the Kukis. While many making up the Rhinos play the game in Australia, it isn't at the top level and domestic players don't have a strong competition to develop in. The CI rely heavily on NZ born players with more experience.

That's how it transpired, as about 2,600 turned up in neutral Australia to enjoy the match. The Kukis quickly took control and raced to a 46-0 lead by half time. The second half was more even and the Rhinos managed to score too, which was some consolation.

Cook Is 66-6 South Africa.

The Cook Is will later head stateside to take on the USA to decide the final place in the 2021 WC.

22nd June, Auckland, NZ (Oceania Cup Pool A) NZ vs Tonga

Mate Ma'a Tonga have had some great wins recently and want to progress and eventually be recognised as a tier one nation. The Kiwis have had some ordinary performances over the same period and wished to get back on track. So plenty riding on the result. Nearly 24,000 were on hand to see the game.

NZ hit the ground running and Tonga struggled to stay with them. At half time it was 16-4 to the home side with the thousands on Tongan fans there unable to lift their team sufficiently. The local side continued to outplay their opponents in the second half and won surprisingly comfortably in the end. Hot and cold Shaun Johnson was outstanding on this occasion for the Kiwis, scoring three tries.

NZ 34-14 Tonga.

22nd June, Sydney, Australia (Oceania Cup Pool B) Samoa vs PNG

Toa Samoa and the PNG Kumuls came together for this clash with PNG having the better recent form. In a tight, tough encounter it was Samoa who had the slightly better first half, leading 12-6 at the break. In the end Samoa got away to win and deservedly so, in front of 8,500 spectators.

Samoa 24-6 PNG

22nd June, Sydney, Australia. Fiji vs Lebanon

At the same venue as above, Fiji Bati took on the Lebanon Cedars with the 8,500 attendees getting bang for their buck in this double header. Both sides have a strong recent history in internationals but Lebanon had some high profile defections and issues with its federation.

How much that affected the Cedars I can't be sure but Fiji were vastly stronger overall. They raced to a surprising 34-4 lead at half time, effectively having won the contest by that time. Lebanon had a nice patch in the second period but had no answer to a very polished Bati performance.

Fiji 58-14 Lebanon

22nd June, Kingston, Jamaica. Jamaica vs USA

Jamaica had not long back narrowly upset the USA Hawks in getting direct qualification to the 2021 World Cup, the latter now to play the Cook Is if they are to get there. So here was a chance to see if that was a one off win. The USA are usually successful when these two nations come together. The Reggae Warriors chose local players only, rather that use any UK based ones so an interesting test of domestic quality.

The Hawks took an early lead and after a seesaw half of scoring it was 18-14 to the visitors. The Reggae Warriors then went ahead 26-18 and went on to win a close encounter of the second kind.

Jamaica 26-24 USA

USA Season : 2019 (Preview)

The 2019 season has commenced with one team no longer competing and a new side added. In all, eleven teams will compete in two conferences. This keeps travel costs down to a minimum. In addition, instead of having a seven Northern Conference and a four team Southern Conference as was the case last year, it is now a six to five split.

Northern Conference: The teams are listed below in the blue section of the chart. The Boston 13s and the Northern Virginia Eagles are at the two extremities but overall travel is not excessive. The Brooklyn Kings won last years conference and made the grand final. The 2017 conference winner - the New York Knights - are not competing this season.

Southern Conference: These sides are on the yellow section of the the chart below. The Atlanta Rhinos are quite a distance to the north of the other teams, the remainder all in Florida. Last year it was the Jacksonville Axemen that comfortably won the conference and then the grand final, so the team to beat in 2019. The new side is the Lakeland Renegades which I believe is based in Winter Haven and is 50 miles east of Tampa.

2019
Northern Conference			Southern Conference
1	Boston 13s		1	Atlanta Rhinos
2	Brooklyn Kings		2	Jacksonville Axemen
3	Delaware Black Foxes		3	Lakeland Renegades
4	Northern Virginia Eagles		4	South Florida Copperheads
5	Philadelphia Fight		5	Tampa Bay Mayhem
6	White Plains Wombats