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.